The government is considering to introduce a pension scheme in the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) to be financed by the own fund of the bureau soon.
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has already written a letter to Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith seeking his consent in this regard, officials said.
The finance minister has termed the proposal as best one, they said.
There is no pension scheme in the EPB at present.
Currently, there is a gratuity system in the entity.
The 136th and 137th meetings of the EPB approved the proposal and the commerce ministry also recommended to launce pension through own fund of the bureau.
The finance ministry is considering to begin the scheme," a senior official at the ministry of commerce said.
The EPB is a statutory body of the government.
The bureau has a Tk 559-million-fund which is sufficient to start the pension scheme.
The riskless status of the fund was 101 per cent as evaluated by actuarial firm, according to the letter.
When contacted, Vice-Chairman of EPB Bijoy Bhattacharjee mentioned that there is no pension scheme at the bureau now.
There is a gratuity system, he noted.
"We hope that the (pension) scheme would be introduced if the finance ministry considers (this) early," the EPB vice-chairman said.
"There are instructions of cabinet division and the finance ministry in this regard," he said.
"We have sent a proposal to the finance ministry to fulfill the requirement (made in the) instructions. The proposal is under consideration of the ministry," he informed.
"The employees of the EPB will feel more secured and they will get pension like other state entities if the proposed pension scheme is implemented," he said.
"According to the existing system, the employees contribute a part from their salary. At the same time, we deposit equivalent part against the employees' contribution," he stated.
"This is called contributory pension system," the EPB vice-chairman added.
The pension fund would be disbursed from the earnings of EPB's Tk 559-million fund, another high official of the bureau said.
As a national export trade promotional organisation, the EPB is providing support to its stakeholders concerned with the country's export sector, according to its website.
The stakeholders are related with the field of product promotion, product diversification, inclusion of new products in the list of export products' basket, adoptation of policy and programme for active promotion of export.
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