ย ย ย As Government continues to improve the delivery of services to pensioners and National Insurance Scheme (NIS) contributors countrywide, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance Dr. Ashni Singh said pensioners now have a total of 4,779 locations countrywide where they can encash their pension vouchers. Dr. Singh was at the time delivering the feature remarks in the presence of the NIS Chairman and Board as well as the various payment provider agency officials during a ceremony held at Herdmanston Lodge to launch three new payment options for pensioners-namely Mobile Money Guyana (MMG), MoneyGram and Bill Express.ย ย ย
โSo, between these three new partners, we have, of course, the mobile money option, which means that once you have an MMG wallet in your phone, you can now receive your NIS pension directly into your MMG wallet and spend directly from the MMG wallet. But if you chose to withdraw cash from your MMG account, you have 4,672 locations countrywide where you can do that. So, between these three partners alone, we have now added 4,779 locations where NIS pensioners can now receive their NIS pensions. And that’s a very staggering number,โ the finance minister posited.
Meanwhile, Dr. Singh also pointed out that the number of pensioners receiving pension directly into their bank accounts has more than doubled to 24,415 moving from 11,932 in 2020. He then urged the remaining 39,052 who are receiving their pensions via a pension book to exercise the option of getting their NIS pensions paid directly into their bank account.ย ย
โPresident Ali was very deliberate as he was leading the preparation of our manifesto for the 2025 elections. He instructed that a special chapter be written on what he described as financial inclusion and financial literacy, and that was not by accident because he recognized that in this period of modernization and transformation in our country, we cannot have a population that is not financially included-meaning part of the formal financial system. If you have a bank account, you are interacting with the formal banking system, you have access to loans and to credit, you are using some of the modern instruments of the financial system,โ Minister Singh underscored.ย
Notwithstanding this, the minister pointed out that government continues to focus on improving the delivery of services to all pensioners including those who do not have bank accounts, thus the launch today of the three new payment options for pensioners to encash their payment vouchers.ย
โPrior to the concluding of these arrangements with these three new partners, persons who had an NIS book of vouchers could have encashed those vouchers only at the following locations: at any one of the NIS’s and in addition, we had entered arrangements with the commercial banks that persons could have encashed their vouchers at all but one commercial bank,โ he recalled. .
Dr. Singh also elaborated on the countryโs vastly expanding economy and the reason why more persons are joining the NIS as contributors as they see the many benefits the institution serves.ย
Also delivering remarks at the launch following the NISโs 600th Board meeting to date, Chairman of the NIS Board Ramesh Persaud said the NIS has vastly improved its services over the last years with processing of claims moving from an average of two and a half months to two weeks.ย
Delivering welcome remarks at the launch as well was General Manager of NIS Ms. Holly Greaves who expressed appreciation to government, other stakeholders, pensioners and other contributors for the support the entity has received as it continues to improve its services to the public.ย
Upon returning to office in 2020, the Peopleโs Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration has placed specific focus on ensuring that the NIS remains a viable National Insurance Scheme for the benefit of citizens across the country and the senior minister has led various outreaches countrywide to address the concerns of thousands of pensioners and contributors. ย ย ย ย
