South Africa’s Ramaphosa calls for discussion on utilising pension funds for projects
South Africa should discuss using worker pension funds to finance development and infrastructure projects, a proposal that has the backing of the country’s largest labour federation, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday.
Read also South Africa should look to pensions instead of an IMF bailout: ANC
In its 2019 poll manifesto ahead of the May general election, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) mentioned investigating prescribed assets – where the government authorises the investment of retirement savings in certain developmental assets – but was short on specific details.
“We need to discuss this matter (prescribed assets) and we need to discuss it with a view to actually saying what is it we can do to utilise the various resources in our country to generate growth in a purposeful manner,” Ramaphosa told lawmakers.
Read also South Africa. Prescribed assets: What government could do with your retirement savings
“We are facing a situation where our developmental needs are enormous, and in a number of other places pension funding is utilised for developmental purposes, for infrastructure and quite often those pension funds make good returns out of infrastructure developments.”
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