Interest rate of senior citizens is to be increased.

State Minister for Finance Dr. Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that a special meeting was held with the officials of the Joint National Organization of Government Pensioners yesterday.

He said that discussions were held regarding increasing the interest rate of senior citizens by eliminating pension discrepancies.

The minister added that steps have been taken to provide an interim allowance of 5,500 to all pensioners in government service, adding 3,000 Rupees to the current allowance of 2,500 Rupees.

The minister further mentioned that an expert committee headed by U. R. Seneviratne was recently appointed and based on the reviews, they will provide this interim allowance to the retired public servants, till the revised salary structure is implemented from 2025. The minister pointed out that there are currently around 700,000 government pensioners receiving pension and accordingly the government will incur an additional expenditure of 8.4 billion Rupees to provide this interim payment in 2024.