The Minister of Finance, Hon. Colm Imbert, MP, has taken note of an article in today’s Newsday entitled “Roget Slams Govt’s Proposal to raise Retirement Age to 65” in which the leader of the Joint Trade Union Movement, Ancel Roget, is quoted as saying that the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance have floated the idea of increasing the retirement age from 60 to 65 as a means of denying workers their legitimate rights to National Insurance benefits.

The Minister of Finance wishes to make it clear this statement by Mr. Roget is completely untrue. At no time has the Prime Minister or the Minister of Finance indicated that the Government intends to increase the retirement age.

Indeed, as far back as January 2017, over a year ago, at the opening of the new NIB Headquarters in Port of Spain, the Minister of Finance stressed, in his feature address at that event, that pushing back the retirement age was not government policy and that no decision had been taken on the matter.

The Government’s position on the retirement age has since been raised in Parliament on several occasions since January 2017 and on every occasion the Minister of Finance has made it clear that the Government has no plan to increase the retirement age and that no decision has been taken by the Government on this matter.

JTUM’s allegation that the Government is proposing to increase the retirement age in order to deny workers their retirement benefits is therefore completely erroneous and unfounded.

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The Hon. Colm Imbert, M.P.

Minister of Finance