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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chairs a meeting of the federal cabinet in Islamabad. — APP
#Cabinet #okays #hike #EOBI #pensions
The Federal Cabinet has approved a 15 % increase in the Pension of the Older Age Benefits (EOBI), which is effective from January 1, 2025.
The cabinet’s decision was based on the recommendation of the Ministry of Pakistanis and the Ministry of Human Resource Development abroad. The increase will be provided with the company’s own resources.
The Federal Cabinet meeting was chaired here under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif. The Prime Minister directed the formation of a cabinet committee to introduce institutional reforms in EOBI.
The committee will also deliberately information on the suggestions of expanding the benefits of old age in the informal labor sector, including domestic workers, agricultural laborers, and other backward employment categories that have been previously ignored.
The purpose of these reforms is to ensure that workers in these neglected fields get their right rights.
Import discounts for medicines
The cabinet also approved the launch of a legal procedure on the draft shipping document bill, 2025 on the recommendation of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs.
On the recommendation of the Ministry of National Health Services, the cabinet approved a five -year extension of anti -cancer, cardiacs, and life -saving medicines used in hospitals and related health care agencies.
These medicines are considered important for protecting human lives, and the purpose of immunity is to ensure their immediate availability.
These medicines will be available only in hospitals and authorized institutions, which will ban open market sales. Importing these drugs will require advance approval from the relevant licensing authority.
The Federal Cabinet also endorsed the decisions made at Cabinet Committee meetings on legislative cases held on July 2, 2025 and July 3, 2025.
Appreciate on the Muharram arrangements
Earlier, addressing the cabinet, the Prime Minister praised the efforts of all provincial governments, the federal administration as well as Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit -Baltistan (GB) officials to make excellent possible arrangements during Muharram.
He also thanked the law enforcement agencies and all stakeholders during religious observations.
The Prime Minister also talked about the preparations for the devastation during the ongoing monsoon season. He said that he has chaired a high level meeting with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) to ensure the best arrangements. He praised the NDMA efforts to make arrangements for heavy rainfall in different parts of the country.
He expressed his grief over the loss of lives due to heavy rains in different parts of the country, especially in Swat.
He said it was an unfortunate event and emphasized the need to learn a lesson from it and to implement measures to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
Satisfaction with the economy
On the economic front, Prime Minister Shahbaz expressed satisfaction over the recent positive trends in the macroeconomic indicators. He reaffirmed his government’s attention on the performance and services of the government, announcing that the performance of the ministries would be evaluated every two months.
The Prime Minister emphasized, “I want to make this message out loud and clear. All this is about the nation’s supply and services.”
He added that the ministries that perform well will be recognized and praised, while short -lived will be held accountable and asked to explain it.
During the meeting, he also praised the Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal for the effective use of development funds of his ministry and said that development costs under the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) has increased more than Rs 1 trillion.
