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Republic of Niger: Towards an Integrated and Sustainable Pension System

Autor: Banco Mundial
Año: 2009
Resumen: This report was prepared at the request of the Government of Niger to: (i) provide a comprehensive assessment of the Nigerien pension system, (ii) analyze current reform initiatives and recommend possible refinements and alternatives, and (iii) examine implementation challenges. To this end, the report develops a set of general guidelines to assess reform options in terms the adequacy of benefits, security, financial sustainability, redistribution, incentives, and administrative efficiency. The core of the report is organized in three chapters. After providing a summary of the background (chapter one), chapter two develops the policy framework and updates the assessment of the mandatory pension systems. The assessment looks at the financial situation of the schemes but also discusses other problems that had been previously overlooked in terms of the adequacy of benefits; the type of redistribution; as well as issues related to incentives. Chapter three reviews Government ongoing reform initiatives, summarizes the international experiences that are relevant to Niger, and, presents recommendations to strengthen current policies by outlining the components of a multi-year reform program, and developing a road map towards implementation.

Fuente: Banco Mundial
Clasificación: Reformas de Pensiones
Tipo de Publicación: Informes
Idioma:

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Closing the Coverage Gap: The Role of Social Pensions and Other Retirement Income Transfers

Autor: Takayama, Noriyuki; Holzmann, Robert; Robalino, David A.
Año: 2009
Resumen: The book has four specific objectives: (a) to discuss the role of retirement income transfers in the context of a strategy for expanding old- age income security and preventing poverty among the elderly; (b) to take stock of international experience with the design and implementation of these programs; (c) to identify key policy issues that need to receive attention during the design and implementation phases; and (d) to offer some preliminary policy recommendations and propose next steps. The chapter one discusses the rationale for retirement income transfers. The main justifications are the limited coverage of the mandatory pension systems (chapter two) and the risk of poverty during old age (chapter three). Chapter four then examines the rights, based approach to expansion of social security coverage based on the conventions and recommendations of the International Labor Organization (ILO). The middle part of the book deals with international experience. Chapters five, six, and seven reviews selected programs in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries, respectively, and chapters eight and nine discuss in greater depth the cases of Japan and the Republic of Korea. The five concluding chapters are concerned with policy issues as related to design. Chapter ten presents a typology of retirement income transfers and analyzes the potential economic impacts of the programs. Chapter eleven deals with financing mechanisms and the problem of allocative efficiency, given limited resources. Chapter twelve addresses two key issues related to institutional arrangements and targeting systems: Should countries consider separate programs to target the elderly poor instead of using the general social assistance system to target all poor? And, how can current proxy means-test systems be adapted to target the elderly poor? Chapter thirteen explores in more detail the links between social pensions and matching contributions in the context of a general strategy for expanding coverage. Finally, chapter fourteen provides guidelines for the design of the administrative systems needed to operationalize the various programs. The remainder of this overview summarizes the main messages from the subsequent chapters and outlines an agenda for future research and policy analysis. For clarity, it starts by presenting some definitions pertinent to the retirement income transfers discussed in the book.

Fuente: Banco Mundial
Clasificación: Seguridad Social y Sistemas de Pensiones
Tipo de Publicación: Libros
Idioma:

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Pensions in Crisis : Europe and Central Asia Regional Policy Note

Autor: Banco Mundial
Año: 2009
Resumen: The financial crisis has significantly impacted pension systems in the Europe and Central Asia region (ECA) tempting governments to make policy changes in response to the increased pension deficits they are facing. The crisis exacerbates the existing financial imbalance in the public pension systems by reducing contribution revenues sharply while leaving expenditures constant or even higher. The crisis also resulted in a sharp drop in financial asset values which affects pensions provided by funded pillars. Consequently, no pension system, however structured, has been immune to the crisis. Despite the severity of the financial crisis, it pales in comparison to the demographic crisis which the region will face. Therefore, countries are urged not to make long-term policy changes to address short-run fiscal concerns. Any short-run responses should be consistent with strategies to address the long-run challenges to the pension system. The long-run focus should include: (i) protecting the purchasing power of pensioners and fiscal sustainability of the system, both during the crisis and beyond, by shifting to inflation indexation of pensions, (ii) encouraging individuals to work more and longer by raising retirement ages, equalizing retirement ages between men and women, and curbing early retirement, and (iii) enhancing public awareness of the increasingly limited capacity of publicly provided pensions as populations age.

Fuente: Banco Mundial
Clasificación: Seguridad Social y Sistemas de Pensiones
Tipo de Publicación: Notas de Pensiones
Idioma:

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Pensions in Crisis: Europe and Central Asia Regional Policy Note

Autor: Banco Mundial
Año: 2009
Resumen: The financial crisis has significantly impacted pension systems in the Europe and Central Asia region (ECA) tempting governments to make policy changes in response to the increased pension deficits they are facing. The crisis exacerbates the existing financial imbalance in the public pension systems by reducing contribution revenues sharply while leaving expenditures constant or even higher. The crisis also resulted in a sharp drop in financial asset values which affects pensions provided by funded pillars. Consequently, no pension system, however structured, has been immune to the crisis. Despite the severity of the financial crisis, it pales in comparison to the demographic crisis which the region will face. Therefore, countries are urged not to make long-term policy changes to address short-run fiscal concerns. Any short-run responses should be consistent with strategies to address the long-run challenges to the pension system. The long-run focus should include: (i) protecting the purchasing power of pensioners and fiscal sustainability of the system, both during the crisis and beyond, by shifting to inflation indexation of pensions, (ii) encouraging individuals to work more and longer by raising retirement ages, equalizing retirement ages between men and women, and curbing early retirement, and (iii) enhancing public awareness of the increasingly limited capacity of publicly provided pensions as populations age.

Fuente: Banco Mundial
Clasificación: Seguridad Social y Sistemas de Pensiones
Tipo de Publicación: Notas de Pensiones
Idioma:

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Pension Privatization and Country Risk

Autor: Cuevas, Alfredo; Gonzalez, Maria; López-Marmolejo, Arnoldo; Lombardo, Davide
Año: 2009
Resumen: This paper explores how privatizing a pension system can affect sovereign credit risk. For this purpose, it analyzes the importance that rating agencies give to implicit pension debt (IPD) in their assessments of sovereign creditworthiness. We find that rating agencies generally do not seem to give much weight to IPD, focusing instead on explicit public debt. However, by channeling pension contributions away from the government and creating a deficit of resources to cover the current pension liabilities during the reform's transition period, a pension privatization reform may transform IPD into explicit public debt, adversely affecting a sovereign's perceived creditworthiness, thus increasing its risk premium. In this light, accompanying pension reform with efforts to offset its transition costs through fiscal adjustment would help preserve a country's credit rating.

Fuente: Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI)
Clasificación: Regulación y Supervisión
Tipo de Publicación: Documentos de Trabajo
Idioma:

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