Muscat: The Public Authority for Social Insurance (PASI) has decided to address the conditions of insured persons subject to the unified pension scheme coverage. Among the issues that need to be addressed are differences in the minimum wages, rates of subscriptions, and liable allowances in the GCC countries. The process for this will start on Wednesday.
These changes come under the definitions of a liable wage subscription in the unified system pension scheme, and minimum wages in accordance with the workplace standards are part. The workers shall bear the differences as a result of receiving a wage less than the defined minimum wage and the wage liable to the subscription.
The Pension Scheme Coverage was issued by a decision of the Supreme Council of the GCC countries in its 25th session held in Bahrain in December 2004, regarding the approval of the unified system for extending insurance protection for citizens of the Gulf council states and working in any other member state.
The system will apply to all Omanis working in the private sector with any employer in one of the Gulf countries as of January 2006, except for the United Arab Emirates and Qatar that implemented the system on January 1, 2007.
Since its establishment on July 2, 1991, the PASI has undertaken insurance protection for social groups, which are subject to the provisions and requirements of the Social Insurance Law.
This protection is represented in four main schemes: Social insurance for Omanis working in the private sector; Social insurance system for Omanis working abroad and alike; Extending insurance protection for Omanis working in the Gulf states; and Social insurance system for self-employed Omanis working and alike.
This insurance protection has evolved as it started insurance against the risks of aging, disability, and death. Then it extended to cover work injuries and occupational diseases. Besides, insurance benefits have also witnessed continuous improvements, most notably raising the pension calculation factor, raising the minimum pension, calculating contributions on the overall wage (basic + bonuses), and raising benefits for work injury compensation and occupational diseases.
The PASI seeks to achieve its vision and enhance its mission and institutional values by extending its insurance coverage to include groups not covered by insurance protection in society. It looks to enhancing the efficiency of its investments as performance indicators indicate that investment returns have reached nearly 7 per cent over the past year. The Authority has also received the Best Investment Fund Award within Muscat Securities Market Awards for proficiency in mediation work for the year 2019.
By the end of 2019, the relative geographical distribution of the Authority’s investments reached 76.5 per cent in local and Gulf investments and 23.5per cent in foreign investments.
Since its inception 28 years ago, the PASI has served more than half a million subscribers efficiently. The latest statistics indicate that the number of active insured persons registered in all social insurance systems reached 256,978 until the end of 2019, the number of active establishments reached 16,554, the number of active pension is 16,908, and 23,952 pensioners.
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