Proposal to Set Retirement Age at 55 for Civil Servants, IMF Pushes for Pension Scheme Inclusion

Islamabad: A proposal to set the retirement age for civil servants at 55 has been presented to the Prime Minister, though no final decision has been made yet. Sources within the Ministry of Finance have confirmed that the Prime Minister was briefed on the proposal, which currently remains in the initial stages. If approved, the retirement age limit of 55 years would only apply to civilian employees, not the military or other sectors.
The proposal has received a lukewarm response from the bureaucracy, with many civil servants expressing opposition to the move. A number of senior bureaucrats would be impacted by such a decision, as several of them are approaching the 55-year threshold. Consequently, there is resistance within the bureaucracy to enforce such a change.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called on the government to include current civil servants in the country’s contributory pension scheme. The IMF is urging that serving employees be brought into the scheme in the same way as new recruits, aiming for a broader implementation of pension reforms.
In response to the IMF’s recommendation, the Ministry of Finance has started working on incorporating active employees into the contributory pension scheme. Additionally, there are ongoing discussions about reviving the Federal Secretariat Allowance, which has been frozen for over a decade.