Pharmacists retirement pension raised to $670 a month

BEIRUT - The president of the Order of Pharmacists of Lebanon, Joe Salloum, announced Thursday the increase of the monthly retirement pension for pharmacists to $670.

“The pension fund committee has increased the pension for pharmacists to $670 per month,” he emphasized in a statement. Salloum noted that this amount paid monthly to retired pharmacists “is the highest among all professional orders, thanks to the internal reforms of the institution, the efforts of the administrative staff, and the financial reserve developed in fresh currencies.”

The unionist added that “the Order covers 100% health insurance for nearly a thousand retirees along with their spouses, at a cost of more than a million dollars per year, from the subsidy fund.” “It is the only professional Order to do so,” he concluded.

Last February, the president of the Order of Pharmacists had demanded the release by the Banque du Liban of $300 per month to allow the increase of the retirement pension for liberal professions, including pharmacists. He had proposed that “the financing of such a circular come from the money in the retirement funds of the orders of liberal professions, amounting to $447 million in banks,” specifying that “the budget necessary to finance this measure should not exceed $36 million per year.”

Since the beginning of the financial and economic crisis in 2019, Lebanese depositors have access to their accounts, frozen in banks, only gradually, according to circulars that limit withdrawals depending on the cases.