May 2023
09May

Belgium’s recovery plan blocked by pension reform stalemate

Belgium still has not made progress on the thorny pension reform issue even though it would unlock much-needed EU funds under the country’s recovery plan. On Monday, the government decided to increase its borrowing by €408 million to implement the Federal pillar of the recovery plan, Belgian news media La Libre reported. However, while the European Union paid Belgium €770 million of the €850 million of the first tranche in advance, the country was forced to postpone its first formal payment...

May 9, 2023
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05May

Developments in the Economics of Aging (National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report)

By David A. Wise  The number of Americans eligible to receive Social Security benefits will increase from forty-five million to nearly eighty million in the next twenty years. Retirement systems must therefore adapt to meet the demands of the largest aging population in our nation’s history. In Developments in the Economics of Aging, David A. Wise and a distinguished group of analysts examine the economic issues that will confront policy makers as they seek to design policies to protect the...

May 5, 2023
Aging, Books, Books,
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April 2023
04Apr

U.K. extends pensions funds’ clearing obligation exemption for 2 more years

His Majesty's Treasury said it will exempt U.K. pension funds from the clearing obligation for an additional two years. Under the European Union's European Markets Infrastructure Regulation pension funds in Europe have until June 18 before they are obligated to clear derivatives. Under the rules of EMIR, all counterparties trading in the European Union are required to post cash, rather than bonds, as the collateral to clear derivatives' exposures. This could mean they have to liquidate otherwise long-term fixed-income investments if...

April 4, 2023
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March 2023
15Mar

What the SVB Collapse Teaches Us About Retirement Planning

The startling and swift collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, along with crypto-friendly Silvergate Capital and Signature Bank, shocked industries and investors on a national and global scale. Even as the U.S. Treasury steps in to suppress economic turmoil, its unknown what lies ahead with the U.S. banking system or whether we’ll see additional bank failures in the short-term. In its aftermath, the bank runs and subsequent crashes, along with lingering talks of a recession, touch on the significance behind adequate...

March 15, 2023
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06Mar

S.Korea pension fund ready to revive FX swap with cenbank

South Korea's National Pension Service (NPS), manager of the world's third-largest public pension fund, will collaborate with foreign exchange authorities when needed to help stabilise the market, its chairman told Reuters. Chairman Kim Tae-hyun also said during an interview on Friday with Reuters that re-establishing a currency swap arrangement with South Korea's central bank which expired at the end of last year could be part of such collaboration. NPS has nearly $700 billion under its management and needs to buy dollars...

March 6, 2023
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03Mar

Government spending in Spain from a European perspective

By Mario Alloza, Julia Brunet, Victor Forte-Campos, Enrique Moral-Benito & Javier J. Pérez This document presents a detailed analysis of the structure of general government spending in Spain and its recent evolution in comparison to the rest of the European countries. The weight of Spanish public spending is similar to that of neighbouring countries, although below the average for a reference group of European countries (EU-15). Thus, in 2019 the level of public spending stood at 42% of GDP compared to...

March 3, 2023
Articles, System Characterization, , , ,
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February 2023
27Feb

Puerto Rico government says it won’t cut pensions due to severe déficit

The executive director of the Financial Advisory Authority and the Puerto Rico Tax Agency, Omar Marrero, assured this Saturday that the government of Pedro Pierluisi “will not allow the pensions of our employees to be reduced” in the face of a deficit of several million dollars for retirees. “This government will not allow the pensions of our employees to be reduced. This will always continue to be our objective,” Marrero said in a press release in response to a letter...

February 27, 2023
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14Feb

Ghana. DDEP: We will abandon hospitals if you touch our pension funds – GMA warns

The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has threatened it will abandon the hospitals if the government touches their pension funds for the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).   Speaking on Starr Today with Joshua Kodjo Mensah, the General Secretary of GMA, Dr. Titus Beyuo said that the government dares not touch their independent pension funds adding any move by the government on their fund will be a complete betrayal of trust and action in bad faith.   “If you touch people’s pensions they are...

February 14, 2023
News, Uncategorized,
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09Feb

Ghana debt swap deal ‘good for you’, finance minister tells retirees

Ghana's finance minister told a group of protesting retiree bondholders on Monday they were being a offered a good deal, as the government of the struggling West African nation pushes to get a domestic debt exchange over the line by Tuesday. Ghana launched a debt swap plan in December as part of attempts to address a spiralling economic crisis, but it has struggled to convince bondholders to register, in part due to a lack of clarity over its terms and...

February 9, 2023
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January 2023
26Jan

World Migration Report 2022

By: IOM Since 2000, IOM has been producing its flagship world migration reports every two years. The World Migration Report 2022, the eleventh in the world migration report series, has been produced to contribute to increased understanding of migration and mobility throughout the world. This new edition presents key data and information on migration as well as thematic chapters on highly topical migration issues, and is structured to focus on two key contributions for readers: Part I: key information on migration...

January 26, 2023
Books, Books, Labor Market, , ,
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