Tanzanian government is currently in the final stages of merging all pension funds in the country in a bid to reduce their number and operating costs according to “Daily News Tanzania”.
There are about seven pension schemes operating in the country and all of them offer similar benefits. The National Social Security Fund (NSSF), PPF Pension Fund, Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF), Local Authorities Pension Fund (LAPF), Workers Compensation Fund, Government Employees Provident Fund (GEPF) and National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).
For sometime now, stakeholders have been engaged to air their views on envisaged reduction in number of the social schemes from the current number to either one or two.
Tanzania’a Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, Ms Jenista Mhagama, said her permanent secretary was finalizing plans with the stakeholders to reduce the number of funds.
“When everything is completed, I will make it public. But now I can’t reveal exactly time when we are going to have the reduced number of the pension funds,” Ms Jenista Mhagama was quoted by the publication.
Recently, the authorities had sought views from stakeholders and among other recommendations, they proposed that the funds should be merged to form either one or two funds, one to cater for the public sector and the other for private sector. They argued that costs related to operating social security funds are higher hence ruining the funds ability to offer quality services.
