Electronic pension payment saves Rs. 600 million

Modnath Dhakal / Kathmandu, June 7: The Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO) has executed a system to directly deposit the monthly pension of the retired government employees which is expected to save about Rs. 600 million of the government.

Financial Comptroller General Madhu Kumar Marasini inaugurated the system, named as Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT), for pension transfer on Sunday. The system will benefit about 276,000 retired government employees.

According to Spokesperson of the FCGO Gyanendra Paudel, the country spends about Rs. 55 billion to Rs. 60 billion every year in pension payments.

The banks are charging 1 per cent of the pension funds for the advance management of the payment which means the government would save about Rs. 600 million annually.

Marasini said that the facility would support the implementation of the government announced ‘Digital Nepal Framework’. The framework is a programme designed to enable the country to harness its growth potential by leveraging disruptive technologies and driving socioeconomic growth.

Announced in 2019, the framework is expected to deliver an impact of up to Rs. 800 billion by 2022. “The new system will enhance transparency and reduce the cost of mobilising the funds while facilitating in the quick delivery of the service,” said Marasini.

The FCGO has also maintained that paying pension money directly to the bank account of the beneficiary would make the cash flow management of the government more effective.

According to Paudel, pension money would be deposited into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries in the third week of the next month. The FCGO is also mulling to develop an automated system to verify the pensioners so that the beneficiaries need not visit the office to renew their pension documents. “The FCGO will begin the work to develop the new system from the next fiscal year 2021/22,” said Paudel.