ALL is well with National Insurance.
These are the sentiments of the National Insurance Scheme Chairman Ian Gooding-Edghill, as he spoke on the sidelines of a donation of examination kits to students of the Lawrence T. Gay Memorial School yesterday ahead of the upcoming Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance Exam.
Speaking to members of the media, he explained that despite the heavy dependence on National Insurance benefits due to the fallout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the island was still standing strong.
“The National Insurance, over the years, has built up a very strong fund. It is even stronger in the sense that since the Barbados Labour Party came into office as a government, they paid their contributions in cash and not via paper and that is a tremendous departure from what we had before. The fund is safe.
The Government in respect of the Unemployment Fund, if there is any shortfall, the Government has already gone on record that they will replenish the Unemployment Fund,” he said.
Noting that National Insurance consists of multiple funds, including the Unemployment Fund, the Severance Fund, the Catastrophe Fund and the National Insurance Fund, and that the National Insurance Fund alone has over $4 billion in it made up of investments and other sources, Gooding-Edghill said that there was absolutely no cause for alarm and that there were improvements slated for the operation going forward.
“There is no need to worry. We have paid out in excess of $55 million and we are continuing to pay unemployment benefits. We have also commenced the advance payment on National Insurance as well and we are satisfied with the progress and at a later date, I will also be announcing additional initiatives that are going to be undertaken by the National Insurance Board in executing more efficient delivery of services with respect to the operations and how we interface with the public,” he said. (MP)