Pensions for those in the private sector moved closer after the National Assembly and ministries of Economy and Finance, and Labour and Vocational Training created a draft law on social security funds.
Government officials led by Ministry of Economy and Finance secretary of state Nguon Sokha met National Assembly secretary-general Leng Peng Long at parliament last Wednesday to discuss drafting the new law.
The move comes after Prime Minister Hun Sen announced that, from this year, private sector workers would have a pension fund similar to government officials, Sokha said on Monday.
An inter-ministerial task force made up of officials from the Ministry of Economy and other relevant ministries was created to draft the new bill.
“Part of these talks focused on amendments to pension funds,” she said, adding that the draft law included reforms of the pension fund for government officials.
Sokha said government officials who had worked for 30 years would receive around 60 per cent of total wages – a change from the current government pension fund which provides 80 per cent of basic salary.
Sohka said the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training is in charge of the new draft law and will collaborate with relevant ministries on the matter.
“The new law is currently in the negotiation phase, but we will try to finalise it as soon as possible according to technical procedures and a thorough study. It needs to be carefully reviewed so it requires more time,” she said.
Peng Long agreed with the intention to have the legislative and executive branches of government and the private sector work together on the law.
He said the legislative and executive branches of government and the private sector had in the past successfully worked together on laws on taxation and financial and procurement systems so the pension fund law should be handled in a similar fashion.
Peng Long is to work with department directors at the National Assembly and Ministry of Economy to further study the draft.
He praised the government’s efforts to improve salaries and benefits for government officials and private sector workers.
