Fact check: can the full pension be kept from age 60 for Rs 1.8 billion?
Roshi Bhadain promises to keep the pension at Rs 15,555 from 60 and puts the cost at Rs 1.8 billion. The pension is affordable to restore, but our calculation puts the cost higher, and the savings he proposes are very large.
In short
What he said: keep the pension at Rs 15,555 from age 60, at a cost of Rs 1.8 billion, paid for by a 1% property tax on large shopping complexes (about Rs 2bn) and Rs 25bn of cuts in “state waste” in the first year.
What the law says: from 1 January 2027 you can start the State Age Pension at any age from 60 to 70. At 60 it is Rs 11,589, 30% less than the Rs 16,555 paid at 65 (Annex to the Budget). His figure of Rs 11,898 is not in the official table.
The cost: there were 80,804 people aged 60-64 in mid-2024 (Statistics Mauritius). Topping each of them up from Rs 11,589 to Rs 15,555 costs about Rs 3.9bn a year; Rs 1.8bn covers about 37,800 people, 47% of the age group.
The funding: Rs 25bn of savings would be 9.4% of all government spending, more than the entire health budget (Rs 21bn). The audit office documents waste, but in amounts measured in millions, not tens of billions.
Verdict: needs context. The promise is affordable in principle, but the Rs 1.8bn cost only holds if fewer than half of 60-64 year-olds claim, and the savings proposed to pay for it are not detailed.
The claim
At a Reform Party meeting at Rose-Belle on 31 July 2026, Roshi Bhadain presented himself as the defender of the universal pension from 60. He said the new rules reduce the basic pension from Rs 15,555 to Rs 11,898 and impose a 30% penalty for stopping work at 60, and that in power he would keep the pension at Rs 15,555 from 60, a promise he costed at Rs 1.8 billion. He proposed a 1% property tax on large commercial complexes earning more than Rs 300 million (about Rs 2bn) and a Rs 25bn cut in state waste in the first year.
What the rules actually are
Until 2025 the Basic Retirement Pension (Rs 15,555 a month today) was paid to everyone from 60. The 2025-26 Budget began raising that age to 65. The 2026-27 Budget replaced this with the State Age Pension from 1 January 2027: you choose when to start, between 60 and 70. The full amount at 65 is Rs 16,555 (the BRP plus the Rs 1,000 CSG benefit). Starting earlier reduces it by 6% a year for life, so at 60 it is Rs 11,589; people turning 60 before September 2029 get a smaller reduction (for example Rs 13,688 for someone turning 60 in January 2027).
So the “30% penalty” is accurate for someone with a full pension age of 65 starting at 60, but the amount he quoted (Rs 11,898) does not appear in the Government's table.
Does Rs 1.8 billion add up?
We can check the cost with official figures. Statistics Mauritius counted 80,804 residents aged 60 to 64 in mid-2024. Under the promise, each of them could receive Rs 15,555 a month from 60.
Compared with the new rules, the extra cost depends on how many people would claim early. If all of them claimed at 60, topping up Rs 11,589 to Rs 15,555 costs Rs 3,966 × 12 months × 80,804 ≈ Rs 3.85bn a year. Rs 1.8bn pays that top-up for about 37,800 people. People who would otherwise wait until 65 and now claim at 60 cost more: paying the full Rs 15,555 to the whole age group is about Rs 15.1bn a year.
The true cost lies somewhere in between and depends on behaviour no one can know in advance. The Rs 1.8bn figure is possible only if fewer than half of 60-64 year-olds take the pension early, and it does not include the December bonus.
Can it be paid for?
Rs 4bn a year is about 1.5% of government spending: affordable if it is a priority. The question is where the money comes from. The proposed property tax on large commercial complexes cannot be checked: there is no public figure for the income of such complexes, so the Rs 2bn estimate is unverifiable.
The Rs 25bn cut in state waste is the larger issue. It equals 9.4% of all spending in 2026-27, more than the whole health budget, and about half the public-sector wage bill. The National Audit Office does document waste and weak controls, but the amounts it identifies are mostly in the millions or hundreds of millions of rupees. No detailed list of Rs 25bn of savings has been published.
The verdict
Needs context. Restoring a full pension from 60 is a legitimate political choice and the amount involved is within reach of the budget. But the stated cost is at the low end of what official figures suggest, the amount quoted for the new pension at 60 is not the official one, and the savings meant to finance it are not detailed. We will update this check if the Reform Party publishes its costing.