SSC’s lending initiative issues a total of JD70m in loans to 24,000 pensioners

AMMAN — More than 24,000 pensioners have benefited from the Social Security Corporation’s (SSC) lending initiative, totalling JD70 million in advanced loans, SSC Spokesperson Musa Sbeihi said on Tuesday. 

During a meeting with SSC pensioners in Balqa, Sbeihi added that the SSC allows its pensioners to receive advances that can reach 10 times their pensions, at a JD10,000 ceiling, according to Al Rai daily newspaper.

He added that the Social Security Law pegged pensions and work-incapacitation salaries to the annual inflation rate, to regulate salary increases and preserve purchasing power.

It serves the benefit of pensioners and mitigates the costs of living for them so that they can maintain decent living conditions, Sbeihi said.

The inflation coefficient is calculated into the pension payout in May of every year, he explained. Hence pensions were last raised by 1.59 per cent in May 2018, he continued.

The law also offers options for subscribers who reach the age of retirement without meet the service-duration requirement for pension eligibility, he noted.

One option is to continue working under the SSC by-law until they complete the 15-year duration requirement. A second option is to buy out the remaining period, provided that the subscriber has been a paying subscriber for at least seven years, he added.

The third option is to receive a one-time compensation for the subscriber’s service period, Sbeihi underlined.

On the other hand, head of the SSC pensioners association Muhammad Arabiyat called for incorporating health insurance into the corporation and ease the return of early pensioners to work without conditions.

As for the pensions themselves, Arabiyat also called on the SSC to improve the lower-tier pensions for retirees.