The National Pension Authority (NPA) is set to introduce an "Islamic version" of its universal pension scheme to increase its acceptance and uptake among Muslims.
This initiative aims to launch Islamic-compliant versions for all four existing categories of the Universal Pension Scheme, namely:
- Probash (for Bangladeshis abroad),
- Progoti, (for those working in privately owned/non-government Institutions)
- Shurokkha (for the self-employed)
- Somota (for the self-employed living below the poverty line)
To facilitate the development, an international consultant has been appointed with funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), reported United News of Bangladesh, a news agency. The consultant has been tasked with planning the implementation of Islamic versions across all four NPA schemes.
Sources within the NPA indicate that a significant portion of the population has been hesitant to join the Scheme because of the absence of an Islamic-compliant option. This has also hindered engaging imams from millions of mosques across the country to promote the scheme.
Under the current Universal Pension Scheme, subscribers aged 18 to 50 have to pay subscriptions until they are 60 years old. Those aged above 50 have to pay subscriptions for 10 years.
The NPA was established in 2023 to oversee the Universal Pension Scheme, the purpose of which is to serve as a social retirement safety net for citizens.