This is clearly reflected in the Finance Bill 2022. The monthly Retirement Benefit from July 2022 to June 2023 will be Rs 1000 and the Retirement Benefit from July 1, 2023 will be Rs 4500. During the press briefing at the Maritim Hotel & Spa in Balaclava, during a FSC workshop on Wednesday 27 July, the Finance Minister spoke about an error in the Finance Bill.
Thus, the Rs 13,500 pension will be effective as from July 1, 2024, and not 2023. The Finance Minister suggested that “in a document with more than 85 laws and hundreds of pages, there may have been an error“. He also made it clear that “the government will bring in this supplement as and when it is needed“, pointing out that a 65-year-old pensioner already receives Rs 11,000. He also recalled that we have used a lot of our financial capacity to get through this two-year crisis with Covid 19. “I am aware that this is not enough, but I had to have a reasoned and balanced position and not to put our economic recovery at risk.”
Minister Padayachy also elaborated on the issues of purchasing power of Mauritians, wage compensation, unemployment, and the economic situation. “There will be an improvement in the economic conditions and the purchasing power of Mauritians by January 2023. The country’s macro-economic figures are improving. The unemployment rate is expected to drop from 9.2% to 7.8% by the end of 2022.”
