EOBI Announces Increase in Pensions

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was informed on Wednesday that Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) pensions will be increased from May 1, and future age verification will be based solely on CNIC data. During the PAC meeting chaired by Junaid Akbar, audit officials revealed that EOBI had disbursed Rs. 2.79 billion to 5,131 ineligible pensioners. These individuals were granted benefits despite being underage or having discrepancies between their CNICs and matriculation certificates. The audit found that over 5,000 out of approximately 800,000 pensioners received payments in violation of EOBI rules. In several cases, men below 60 and women below 55 were drawing pensions. EOBI officials confirmed that all future pension age assessments will rely on NADRA-linked CNIC data. Matriculation certificates will no longer be used. The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis secretary assured the committee that all pending pension cases will now be processed using CNIC data and confirmed the May 1 pension hike. He requested a one-month deadline to resolve irregularities. PAC directed the ministry to investigate and submit a full report within a month. Separately, auditors disclosed that EOBI had not recovered Rs. 2.47 billion from 2,864 institutions that failed to register employees or pay contributions. EOBI reported Rs. 1.53 billion has been recovered so far, while Rs. 1 billion remains pending due to legal proceedings. PAC instructed EOBI to complete recoveries within a month.