The Hon. Mahinda Jayasinghe - Deputy Minister

¶ 01 Accordingly, the 2017 publication “Sri Lanka - Fostering Workforce Skills Through Education” by the International Labour Organization and the Asian Development Bank projects that Sri Lanka’s labour force, which is at around 8 million now, will remain at that level until 2035 and thereafter gradually decline.

¶ 02 Hon. Speaker, a brief note on that institution: in the said publication they state, “ADB and ILO do not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication and accept no responsibility for any consequence of their use.” So they themselves say they do not guarantee it. However, we can still use this data to a reasonable extent for our planning.

¶ 03 The Government will pay special attention to increasing female labour force participation, which is currently at a low level of 34.5 percent according to the 2023 Labour Force Survey.

¶ 04 (1) In line with National Budget Circular 03/2022, recruitments to the public service were temporarily suspended from 2022 to control Government expenditure — during your President’s time. Subsequently, to ensure the continuity of public services without collapse, the Cabinet granted approvals for recruitments as necessary to fill essential vacancies, based on recommendations of a Committee chaired by the Secretary to the Prime Minister. This procedure will continue.

¶ 05 (ii) For 2025, the pension expenditure for 737,352 pensioners is projected at Rs. 393.07 billion.

¶ 06 Pension expenditure is about 1.5 percent of GDP, and it will remain around that level unless policy reforms are made in wage structures and retirement arrangements.

¶ 07 The Department of Pensions has informed that it does not have information regarding the number expected to retire over the next ten years and the related expenditure on pensions expected over that period.

¶ 08 They have further informed that projections are limited due to the following reasons: - Retirements on reaching ages 55-60, retirements on medical or personal grounds - Number of pensioners expected to die within the next ten years - Future policy decisions by Government when revising pensions - Retirements in specific positions/services

¶ 09 Public servants may retire between ages 55 and 60 (optional or on reaching compulsory age), based on the officer’s preference and/or Government policy on salaries and pensions.

¶ 10 The Department of Pensions states that, for calculating the expected number of retirees over the next ten years, the following should be considered: - Among current public servants, the number who will retire upon reaching the optional (55) or compulsory retirement age within the next ten years - Among current public servants, the number who will leave the service before reaching optional retirement age within the next ten years

¶ 11 Hon. Member, you know that once 20 years of service is completed, one may retire at 55 on that basis; some apply to retire, which is one reason why exact calculation is difficult.

¶ 12 - Among armed forces personnel currently in service, the number who, within the next ten years, will complete the prescribed service period (20 or 22 years) and retire. This too is difficult to calculate because they have that right.

¶ 13 - Future policy decisions by Government regarding pension revisions - Among current pensioners, the number who will die within the next ten years — thus, we cannot provide perfectly accurate data on this either

¶ 14 Given the variable nature of the above factors, the Department of Pensions states that long-term projections are difficult. However, the Government will take steps to establish a decision-making mechanism based on maximally accurate data, using digital methods through modern technology.

¶ 15 You are aware the Government has commenced a process to digitize public administration. With that, we can present more accurate data going forward.

¶ 16 (Question not raised.)