KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Opposition Spokesperson on the Public Service and Public Sector Modernisation, Senator Lambert Brown says Government must immediately increase pension payments to the over 110,000 beneficiaries of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS).

Brown was speaking in the Senate during a debate on the National Insurance Amendment Bill to increase the frequency of actuarial valuation of the National Insurance Fund(NIF).

He indicated that the NIS pensioners last received an increase in 2013.

According to the Opposition senator, these pensioners now receive $2,800 per week which cannot cover the bare minimum for them to survive.

“However, since 2013 pensioners have seen increases in basic items including food and energy,” Brown said, citing information from the Ministry of Labour indicating that money is available in the budget to support the payment of increased pension benefits.

He stated that the payout for benefits by the NIF was $15.37 billion last year that $20.7 billion is projected to be spent on benefits this year.

Brown said pensioners should not be allowed to suffer because of bureaucratic and other delays and the government must treat this as a priority.