Pensions rise by 5.6%

AMMAN — The Social Security Corporation (SSC) on Monday announced that pensions of subscribed retirees will be raised as of May to match the inflation rate of 2013, which was 5.6 per cent. 

At a press conference, SSC Director General Nadia Rawabdeh said the new Social Security Law, endorsed by Parliament late last year, linked annual raises of pensions with inflation rates or with the growth in the annual average increase in salaries in the Kingdom, whichever is less. 

The annual increase should not exceed JD20 per month. 

Rawabdeh indicated that the pension raise is due on May 1 of every year. 

The annual average salary growth was the same as the inflation rate in 2013, 5.6 per cent, she said, citing official figures released by the Department of Statistics.  

The average salary rate last year went up to JD453 a month from JD429, the SSC director general noted, adding that corporation decided to grant a 5.6 per cent increase to the pensions of 63,628 retirees, who are still alive, and to 77,660 heirs of pensioners. 

The monthly cost of the raise will be JD841,000, while the annual cost is around JD10.9 million, Rawabdeh told reporters. 

Early retirees will not be eligible to benefit from the raise in salaries, except for men who have reached the age of 60 and women who reached 55, she said. 

Last year, the SSC raised pensions by 4.1 per cent, the growth rate of average salaries in 2012, at an annual cost of JD8.5 million, according to the corporation. 

Deliberations on the 2014 Social Security Law saw heated sessions and disputes between the Parliament’s two Chambers, particularly over linking early retirement pensions to inflation, a demand most MPs insisted on. 

But at a joint session on December 18, 2013, the Senate won the vote for its version of the bill, which rejected any linkage between early retirement pensions and inflation.