Earlier this year the National Pensions (Amendment) Law 2020 law was amended during the COVID-19 lockdown crisis to allow persons to make withdrawals from their pension accounts to alleviate the financial strain the pandemic has caused.
Based on statistics received from the pension plan administrators, the Department of Labour & Pension has determined that, thus far, 46,888 applications were received of which over 36,000 applications were approved and 9,909 were rejected and, to date, CI$443,464,491.28 has been paid to plan members. The peak of applications were received in May totaling 25,596.
The ability for persons to withdraw from their pension accounts came to an end on 31st October 2020 and the final statistics for the withdrawals over the six month period will be available in early January.