Registered managers of the pension funds for private sector workers will from this month begin to receive funds from the Temporary Pension Fund Account (TPFA) at the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
According to the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) this is finally happening because it is satisfied with an audit carried out by Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC).
Over GHC 2 billion have been accrued since January 2010 from the second-tier pension scheme out of which GHC 1.64 million represents total contributions from both public and private sector employees plus returns on investment, while GHC 542.72 million represents funds being managed by the scheme operators.
Speaking to Citi News, the Director of Regulations at NPRA, Ernest Amartey-Vondee said the Authority had to �appropriately audit the funds to be sure that everything is in place before we begin the disbursement.�
The final audit report from Price Waterhouse Coopers has been presented to the management of NPRA who have in turn made the appropriate recommendations to the Board of Directors of the Authority.
�In principle, they [Board of Directors] approved that we could begin the transfer of the funds to the various schemes,� said Amartey-Vondee. A timetable is currently being worked out for the transfers to commence.
Meanwhile, the pension contributions of public sector workers will not be disbursed since auditing is still ongoing on the account.
�For now, what has been done relates more to the private sector schemes. For the public sector, we are yet to conclude the audit on the public sector scheme so once that is done, the disbursement will also begin,� he explained.
Public sector workers have for over a month now been agitating over the management of their pension funds.
The case is currently being heard in the law court and ruling on the matter is scheduled for December 16.
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