NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Organization for Responsible Governance (ORG) Executive Director, Matt Aubry weighing in on recommendations for the implementation of a National Insurance Board Fund increase.
In December, Minister of State with responsibility for National Insurance Myles Laroda said that the government had not yet made the decision on when the increase would come into effect.
Laroda previously suggested an increase would have been around three to four percent.
Aubry said that now may not seem like the most opportune time as global trade and the price of goods and services increase due to global inflation, but delaying an issue that is essential to the wellbeing of many Bahamians.
He said that ORG has had recent conversations with individuals in the community who have expressed that the increase is understandable.
“It’s one of the things that people are aware of – they know that this has been a problem, there’s been mention of it, you know got a lot of attention earlier last year and didn’t really come to a conclusion and the same kind of statements that we are hearing was that this will, you know, the government is still considering the plan,” Aubry said.
He added that a worst-case scenario would be if citizens are disadvantaged in the future by not being able to access the contributions they’ve paid into for years.
“Here’s another instance where there’s a key opportunity to join with the citizens in a way that will directly affect them because of what this fundamentally means and this is an issue not just here in the Bahamas. It’s an issue in many spaces in the world.
“Right now people who’ve paid their whole lives into this fund with the hope that they would have a level of security either in the instance of an injury in their work life or their pension as they retire, are at risk of not having that level of security even though they have contributed, even though they have participated and done what they needed to do,” he said.
Aubry noted that he understood the government’s reservations about the issue seeing that there have been increases in several sectors over a matter of months.
However, he stressed that given the nature of the fund, it may be easier for the government to deal with the issue sooner rather than later because of the level of impact it will have on citizens in the medium to long term.
“So although we see that again at a time where it is not ideal to incur a short-term financial hit, then again that was the rationale the last time this really brought a lot of attention is you don’t want to keep hitting the same people over and over and over again.
“[…] If you can show, hey here’s how we save NIB in the next six years and each year plays into xyz and put that in a place where it’s not going to change when administration A changes. People can understand that this is a direct way that they can see a benefit that they’re going to need and want,” Aubry said.
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