Is Pension Reform on the Ballot in Argentina’s Election?
With the fastest-aging populations in the world, Latin American countries are under the gun to overhaul pension systems. Argentina is no different. President Mauricio Macri passed a reform in December 2017, which was met with protests, along with a number of legal hurdles that have kept the legislation from bearing fruit. The latest came on March 26, 2019, when Argentina’s Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional to tax pensioners. The administration has been mute on the issue, avoiding an unpopular subject as the president faces reelection this fall.
“It is a technical, socially contentious, complex problem that will certainly need to be addressed if long-term sustainability of the system is to be achieved,” says Juan Cruz Díaz, special advisor on Argentina to AS/COA and managing director of Cefeidas Group. “But pension reform will not be on the agenda for this electoral year, particularly since the Macri administration will have to focus on stabilizing the economy first.”
Whether or not pension reform becomes a 2019 campaign issue, the burden will fall to the next administration. AS/COA Online takes a look at the scope of the problem, where we are, and what’s next.
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