Malaysia may raise government retirement age

Malaysia is considering raising the retirement age for its 850,000 civil servants by two years to 58 and force new recruits to start saving toward their pension, the New Straits Times said on Saturday.
The government is considering these measures to tackle a burgeoning pensions bill, the daily said. It would help meet its overall goal of reining in a chronic budget deficit - a target already under strain from the escalating cost of fuel subsidies.
Pensions cost the government 4.96 billion ringgit ($1.32 billion) last year, three times the cost in 1994, with the number of civil service pensioners jumping 68 percent to 513,689 over the same period, it said, quoting unnamed sources.