The National Social Security Authority (NSSA) has announced suspension of its proposed increase on pension benefits and contributions effect January, 2012.

The rise in would see the insured limit growing from $200 a month to $1 000. This upswings maximum NSSA monthly contributions from $12 to $80 a month.

The joint employer and employee contribution was due to go up from six percent of an employee’s salary, up to a maximum wage level of $200 per month, to eight percent of the employee’s salary up to a maximum monthly income of $1 000.

These increases would have meant that new pensioners who had contributed to the pension scheme for 17 years would have received a pension equivalent to 22,6 percent of their salary on retirement, up to a monthly salary level of $1 000.

Suspension of the increases means that the maximum pension they will be able to receive will, as was previously the case, be 22,6 percent of $200.