“Lebanon Debate”
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Social Security Fund, Bechara Al-Asmar, confirmed after his meeting with President Joseph Aoun at Baabda Palace, “The priorities of the new council focus on increasing medical and hospital benefits and accelerating the implementation of the Retirement and Social Protection Law, ensuring the transition from end-of-service compensation to a permanent retirement pension.”
He explained, “The work will focus on issuing the implementing decrees of the law, especially the decree forming the investment committee that will manage and invest the guarantee funds,” noting “the existence of a financial plan and actuarial studies that will secure the launch of the new system.”
He pointed out “the effort to reconstitute end-of-service compensation for those who left work between 2019 and 2024, after they received small amounts as a result of the financial collapse and the decline in the value of the currency,” stressing “work to do justice to this group.”
He pointed out “a move to expand the insurance umbrella to include new categories, including municipal workers, agricultural workers, fishermen, and self-employed people, in parallel with developing the institution, mechanizing it, and supplying it with young energies.”
Al-Asmar stressed that “large amounts of guarantee money are still deposited in banks and the Bank of Lebanon, in addition to debts owed by the state,” demanding that they be “returned to the fund as excellent debts according to the law.”
He stressed, “President Aoun expressed full support for these trends,” expressing his hope that “the Board of Directors’ plans will be translated into tangible achievements soon, leading to a guaranteed pension that provides protection for his family after his death.”
