Barbados’ national insurance scheme (NIS) needs an urgent fix, with actuarial experts projecting its near $4 billion National Insurance Fund (NIF) risks being depleted by 2034 if major reforms are not undertaken.
This was revealed yesterday by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, who stressed that while the NIS was currently not in crisis, it would reach that stage if steps to ensure it can continue paying benefits were not taken now.
Mottley, who in recent weeks has been undertaking extensive consultations with interest groups including the private sector, trade unions, political parties, and the Barbados Association of Retired Persons, and the Church, said over the next few weeks all Barbadians would be involved in the process of coming up with solutions to make the NIS sustainable.
“We are not in crisis, but we want to avoid a crisis 15 years from now. That is therefore going to mean that those of us who have the responsibility for taking decisions can do so at the earliest possible opportunity,” Mottley said during a briefing at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre yesterday. (SC)
