December 2022

Health Services Workers’ Union battles government over ‘haircut’ on pensions

The Health Services Workers’ Union (HSWU) has vowed to resist any attempt by the government to touch the Pensions of its members. The General Secretary of the HSWU, Franklin Owusu Ansah, at a press conference held on Sunday said “If the government finds it so important to do the debt restructuring, we will urge them to ring-fence the Pension Funds of workers. Workers of Ghana can’t continue suffering to the grave. Enough is enough!!” This comes on the back of a...

November 2022

No haircuts for pension funds or anybody, says Ghana’s president

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo ruled out losses for bond investors as a result of negotiations with the IMF for a $3bn bailout. Talks with the IMF are “going well”, Akufo-Addo said in a speech broadcast on Sunday in the capital, Accra. The president criticised speculation in the West African nation predicting a so-called haircut for investors, which he said has triggered renewed selling of the cedi. “No individual or institutional investor, including pension funds, in government Treasury bills or instruments will...

October 2022

Ghana. NPRA calls for more collaborations with stakeholders to increase coverage and growth

The National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) is urging stakeholders in the industry to enhance collaboration that would inure to the benefit of Ghanaian workers during retirement. Bono, Bono East, and Ahafo Regions manager of the Authority, William Ohene Adjei, said it is only through effective collaboration that there would be a widening coverage and subsequently rope in more informal workers. He said as part of the Authority’s 5-year strategic plan, they intend to work towards increasing pension coverage and pension income. “It...

Ghana. Public Sector Workers warn government not to touch pension funds in debt restructuring

The Forum for Public Sector Associations and Unions has asked the government not to apply a “haircut” to Tier 2 Pension Funds as part of a “probable” debt restructuring programme. The Forum said it had taken note of media reports suggesting that about 94 per cent of Tier 2 Pension contributions placed in government securities might be affected by the said debt restructuring agenda. At a press conference in Accra today, Thursday, October 20, 2022, Mr Isaac Bampoe Addo, Chairman of...

Ghana. SSNIT to begin mass enrollment of informal sector onto pension scheme by January 2023

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has announced the commencement of a mass enrollment of the informal sector onto its pension scheme by January 2023. This announcement was made at the SSNIT Employers’ Breakfast meeting in Accra. According to the Director General, Dr. John Ofori-Tenkorang, extensive consultations with stakeholders in the informal sector and the need to ensure that systems which will enhance the enrollment of the sector onto the scheme are fully operational, are the reasons why the...

UK Pension Fund Near-Collapse Is A Warning For America’s Pensions

Autor: Edward Siedle Around the world, there are millions of workers and retirees who are counting upon pensions set up by corporations and governments to provide for their retirement security. These individuals believe they have been “promised” certain benefits and that promises made will be kept. Unfortunately, many pensions are severely underfunded, i.e., not enough money has been set-aside to pay benefits promised. Further, the money in these pensions is all-too-often grossly mismanaged—what I refer to as “gross malpractice generally practiced.” That’s...

Ghana. Cocoa Farmers Pension Scheme set to take off this month

The much-awaited rollout of the Cocoa Farmers Pension Scheme is set to commence this month, the Board Chairman of COCOBOD, Mr Peter Mac Manu has announced. According to him, the trustees and implementers of the scheme would be rolling out from district to district to register cocoa farmers onto the scheme to enjoy the pension scheme’s benefit. Mr Mac Menu was speaking at this year’s cocoa day grand durbar which also coincided with the COCOBOD 75th anniversary on the theme “COCOBOD...

Ghana. SSNIT adopts mobile money services next week

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) will, from next week, adopt mobile money services as part of measures to enhance service delivery of the Trust. This was made known by the Director-General of SSNIT, Dr. John Ofori-Tenkorang, at the launch of the Trust’s annual Mobile Service Week at Ho in the Volta Region. With the new services, members can pay their contributions via MoMo, and retirees can choose to receive their pensions via MoMo. “I am happy to announce that...

September 2022

Ghana. SSNIT pension scheme continues to post negative return on investments; records -12.6% return in quarter 1 – Report

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) pension scheme continued to post a negative real rate of return, recording -12.6% at the end of the first quarter of this year. According to the Financial Stability Review report by the Bank of Ghana, assets available for benefits of the SSNIT-managed Basic National Social Security Scheme (BNSSS) dropped marginally by 2.3% to ¢11.28 billion in March 2022 from the ¢11.54 billion recorde in 2021 Quarter 4. Also, though the private pensions industry...

Ghana. Total pension funds increased by 18% to ¢39.6bn in 2021

Total pension funds of the Three-Tier Pensions Scheme increased by 18% in 2021 to ¢39.6 billion, the latest Financial Stability Review by the Bank of Ghana has revealed. This is however lower than the 27% recorded in 2020. The decreased growth rate was attributable to the ongoing lump sum payments under the private pension schemes and a marginal growth of the Basic National Social Security Scheme (BNSSS). Also, private pension funds continued on a positive growth track in 2021. Total private pension funds...