January 2020

03Jan

Ghana. SSNIT To Pay ¢243m Pension In 2020

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has announced it will pay pensions in excess of GH¢ 243 million this yearp. The amount represents an indexation rate of 11℅ for the year under review. Chief Actuary of SSNIT, Stephen Yeboah, made this known at a press conference on Thursday, January 2, 2020, in Accra. Read also Africa’s Biggest Fund Manager Needs CEO for $150 Billion Assets According to him, the 2020 indexation rate was determined using the percentage change...

January 3, 2020
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December 2019

27Dec

Labor Supply Responses to Health Shocks : Evidence from High-Frequency Labor Market Data from Urban Ghana: World Bank Group Publications

By World Bank Group Publications, World Bank Group, World Bank, Heath Rachel, Mansuri Ghazala, Rijkers Bob Workers in developing countries are subject to frequent health shocks. Using 10 weeks of high-frequency labor market data that were collected in urban Ghana, this paper documents that men are 9 percentage points more likely to work in weeks in which another worker in the household is unexpectedly ill. The paper provides suggestive evidence that these effects are strongest among very risk averse...

December 27, 2019
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27Dec

Nigeria. Micro-pension contributors hit 30,000 in 7 months

Contributors for the Micro Pension plan are now 30,000 seven months after it was launched, the National Pension Commission (PenCom) has said. The Acting Director General of PenCom, Aisha Umar-Dahir said this in an exclusive interview with Daily Trust. The Micro Pension plan was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in March 2019. It is aimed at extending pension coverage to the self-employed and persons working in the informal sector to drive financial inclusion and allow the target population to...

December 27, 2019
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24Dec

Africa’s Biggest Fund Manager Needs CEO for $150 Billion Assets

South Africa’s main manager of government-worker pensions is facing its second new year in a row without a chief executive officer as the board struggles to identify a suitable custodian of its $150 billion of assets. The state-owned Public Investment Corp. has been without a permanent leader since Daniel Matjila was ousted in November 2018, with two consecutive acting heads running Africa’s biggest fund manager in the meantime. Reuel Khoza, the PIC’s first non-government affiliated chairman, said in July...

December 24, 2019
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20Dec

Impact Evaluation of the Zanzibar Universal Pension Scheme

By Dr Flavia Galvani, Florian Juergens The Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar strives to build a prosperous and peaceful society that ensures sustainable development, wellbeing and gender equality for everyone. To achieve this, the Government has put in place strategies and plans to meet the needs, and realize the rights, of each and everyone in society. It is our commitment to do our utmost to reduce poverty, vulnerability and violence, increase access to essential services, foster social integration, and promote...

December 20, 2019
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05Dec

Lessons fromm M-Pesa for Africa’s new VC-rich fintech startups

In African fintech, the fourth quarter of 2019 brought big money to new entrants. Chinese investors put $220 million into OPay and PalmPay — two fledgling startups with plans to scale in Nigeria and the broader continent. Several sources told me the big bucks had created anxiety for more than few payments ventures in Nigeria with similar strategies and smaller coffers. They may not need to fret just yet, however: lessons from Africa’s most successful mobile-money case study, M-Pesa,...

December 5, 2019
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November 2019

29Nov

South Africa: Ex-Mineworkers Dig Against the Odds for Their Unpaid Pensions

The leaders of an ex-mineworkers association in Khayelitsha have spent the past decade trying to track down the unpaid pension benefits deducted from their wages without their knowledge or consent. While the mining companies sit pretty , ex-mineworkers continue to live hand to mouth with painful memories of a life made invisible. Now, they demand to be seen by a government they feel has betrayed them. Every Friday for the past decade, Sphiwo William Casiwe has made his...

November 29, 2019
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October 2019

14Oct

AfDB, Japan to promote sustainability bond markets in Africa

The African Development Bank and Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) have signed a partnership to promote environmental, social and governance investments in the global capital markets. Read also Kenya. Pensions uptake low as returns increase In a statement the Bank noted that the collaboration between the Bank and GPIF will focus on channelling investments towards inclusive and sustainable growth in Africa, contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Read also Pension schemes to benefit from PE investment guide...

October 14, 2019
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July 2019

29Jul

Extending Pension Coverage to the Informal Sector in Africa

By Melis Guven & Ernesto Brodersohn The coverage of pension systems in the Africa region is limited to the small segment of the population in the formal sector. Coverage is thin partly because traditional contributory pension schemes are not responding to the needs of the informal sector. As a result, a large share of the region’s adult population has no access to contributory pension schemes during their working lives. This means they will not be eligible for a pension....

July 29, 2019
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23Jul

Zambia. Government proposes to hike NAPSA contributions, abolishes private pension schemes

The PF Government has proposed to increase pension contributions to the National Pensions Scheme Authority from the current 5% to 10%. Currently, the employer and the employee contribute 10% of their gross monthly earnings to NAPSA, a mandatory pension scheme. According to a proposal from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, their monthly contributions will rise to 10% employer and 10% employee. The proposal also seeks to limit the pension schemes allowed to exist in Zambia to have...

July 23, 2019
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