Government has released some 3.1billion cedis which were kept into the Pensions Trust Fund Account into the custodian accounts of the various public and private Sector pension schemes.

Minister for Employment and Labour Relations Ignatius Baffour-Awuah who disclosed this at the Meet the Press series in Accra said the schemes include the Ghana Education Service Occupational Pension Scheme, Health Sector Occupational Pension Scheme, Judicial Service Occupational Pension Scheme, Hedge Master Trust Occupational Pension Scheme and Public Sector Workers Employees’ Pension Scheme.

The Minister indicated that, efforts are being made to bring all matters arising out of the Temporary Pensions Fund Account (TPFA) transfers including Data Reconciliation of beneficiaries and the issue of Past Credit to a logical conclusion.

“In line with the President’s directive on May Day this year, serious attention has since been given to these matters to facilitate the smooth and efficient payment of Tier 2 pension benefits from 2020. As a result of many more efforts deliberately put in place by the Authority, there has been an increase in the membership and contributions of the personal pension scheme” he said.

The minister disclosed that as at the first quarter of 2019, the total membership of personal pension scheme was 158,577 with a total Asset under Management of GH?88,646,234.58 (US$17,729,246.92).

These notwithstanding and considering the fact that the informal economy employs about 85% of the entire workforce of the country, there is a lot more of the informal sector workers within the Ghanaian population uncovered and all efforts should be on deck to extent coverage to this important segment of the economy”, He indicated.

According to the Minister, expanding pension coverage to the informal economy remains a top priority for the Ministry in the short to medium-term.

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