Politics
Retirement Income Diversification in Barbados: Former Minister Urges Transparency and Caution
In light of the Government's pension reform proposals, former Minister of Commerce Lynette Eastmond expresses concerns about the affordability and effectiveness of diversifying retirement income beyond the NIS pension plan in Barbados. She calls for transparency in NIS fund investments and questions the transformation of NIS into a state-owned commercial enterprise. Eastmond also criticizes the lack of public consultation regarding the proposed changes to the pensionable age and eligibility requirements.
4 min read
Originally published by barbadostoday.bb (opens in new tab)
By Jenique Belgrave
Most Barbadians are struggling and cannot afford to put funds in other retirement arrangements beyond the National Insurance Scheme’s (NIS) pension plan.
This is the position of former Minister of Commerce Lynette Eastmond as she knocked suggestions that Barbadians should diversify their retirement income in light of the Government’s pension reform proposals.
Stressing that was not within the pockets of the majority of Barbadian workers, she said that several people who had attempted that had ended up losing their investment.
“I have heard persons saying that individuals need to diversify out of the (NIS) Fund. Barbadians aren’t clowns; many of them have tried to diversify. They’ve diversified into treasury bills, bonds, and CLICO, and these didn’t work out. The majority of Barbadians cannot afford to invest money in other areas. Most Barbadians live from pay cheque to pay cheque. Do not mind all the new cars you see on the road…. Barbadians are struggling,” she told Barbados TODAY.
Eastmond called for transparency regarding any investment of NIS funds going forward, insisting that the NIS must not be used to support private sector projects in need.
“The Fund isn’t there for that. The Fund is not the Enterprise Growth Fund, the Fund is not Fund Access, and it should not be used for risky private sector projects simply because they need public sector support,” she said, as she pointed out that no responsibility had been taken for the almost $10 million the NIS had invested in the stalled Four Seasons project .
“I know the NIS invested in other private-sector projects, and I don’t know what the position is with respect to those others, but I know that Four Seasons is certainly a scandal because we know money went in, and we know that individuals were paid professional fees, but we don’t know what happened after that, and there’s no accountability.”
Eastmond also questioned the plan to transform the NIS into a state-owned commercial enterprise.
“Our experience is that these entities fall victim to political influence, so instead of there being continuity, the government changes, the whole board changes. The individuals on the boards are handpicked and, therefore, quite often in many of these situations, they feel obliged to follow the instructions of political operatives. That’s the difficulty. We should be moving towards less political interference and having people lead institutions because of their ability to lead them,” she said.
