June 2022

European Union Will Lend Ukraine EUR 9 Billion for pensions, among others

The European Union Summit has decided to provide Ukraine with an urgent loan in the amount of EUR 9 billion to pay off urgent budgetary needs. President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen stated this at a press conference on the night of May 31, European Pravda reports. "Ukraine needs urgent financial support. As you know, about EUR 5 billion is required monthly in Ukraine to support basic payments, such as salaries, pensions, etc.," von der Leyen recalled, speaking...

May 2022

Spain: Spending On Pensions Reached A Record 10.81 Billion Euros In May, Up 4.8%

The Social Security allocated a record 10.81 billion euros to the payment of contributory pensions this May, 4.8% more than in the same month of 2021, the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration said on Friday. The Department headed by José Luis Escrivá estimates that spending on pensions stood at 11.8% of GDP in the fifth month of the year, a lower percentage than in 2020 (12.4% of GDP), a year conditioned by the impact of the pandemic...

Putin hikes Russian pensions, plays down Ukraine impact on economy

President Vladimir Putin ordered 10% rises on Wednesday in pensions and the minimum wage to cushion Russians from inflation, but denied the country's economic problems were all linked to the war in Ukraine. With annual inflation near 18% last month, the Kremlin leader acknowledged that 2022 would be a "difficult" year for the Russian economy. "When I say 'difficult', it doesn't mean all these difficulties are connected to the special military operation," Putin told a televised meeting of the State Council...

Greece. First year of pension increases after 12 years

“Next year will be the first year of increasing pensions for the first time, after 12 years,” Deputy Labor and Social Affairs Minister Panos Tsakloglou said in an interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency on Sunday, noting that the government has supported the income of pensioners in several ways. Tsakloglou also referred to the challenges he was called to face when he took over the post and focused on the emblematic, as he characterized it, reform in the architecture of...

Kenya. Pension bill goes up by Sh40bn in 10 months

Kenya’s pension bill increased by Sh39.5 billion in the 10 months to April, the sharpest growth in five years, highlighting the growing pressure on the Exchequer in paying retired civil servants. The latest data from the Treasury shows that Kenya spent Sh113.72 billion on pensions in the period under review, a 53 percent jump from Sh74.19 billion in the corresponding period last year. This is also the first time that Kenya’s expenditure on pensions in the first ten months of a...

What Share of Noncovered Public Employees Will Earn Benefits that Fall Short of Social Security?

What Share of Noncovered Public Employees Will Earn Benefits that Fall Short of Social Security?

By Jean-Pierre Aubry, Siyan Liu, Alicia H. Munnell, Laura Quinby & Glenn Springstead Social Security is designed to serve as the base of retirement support, to be supplemented by employer-sponsored plans. However, approximately one-quarter of state and local government employees – currently, around 5 million workers annually – are not covered by Social Security on their current job. Federal law allows these noncovered workers to remain outside of Social Security if their state or local plan provides comparable benefits. Since...

Nigeria. Civil war veterans protest 44 years unpaid pensions in Ibadan

Some retired military men who fought during the Nigerian civil war protested their 44 years of unpaid pensions on Wednesday in Ibadan, Oyo State capital. The group under the umbrella of the First Intake Able Voluntary Retired Or Discharged Ten Or More Years in Military Service, and led by their national coordinator, Babawande Philips, took to the streets of Ibadan with placards bearing various inscriptions. Mr Philips said the ex-military men had continued to suffer in the last 44 years when...

Malta. Pensions drive up social security spending that hits €322 million mark in first three months

Expenditure on social security benefits in the first three months totalled €322 million, an increase of €65.8 million over the same quarter last year. The increase was almost all due to contributory expenditure, in particular pensions. The additional expenditure is five times higher than the increase in social security benefits in the first quarter between 2021 and 2020. The National Statistics Office said contributory expenditure increased by €66 million, while non-contributory outlay fell marginally by €0.3 million. Pensions in respect of retirement...

Effect of Pensions on the Capital Market

By Sang Wook NAM This study analyzes the impact of public and private pensions on the capital market to examine the empirical arguments for the need for pension development. To this end, we conduct an empirical analysis of the effect of pension assets on the capital markets in 17 OECD member countries. The methods comprise static and dynamic panel analyses, which are conducted in parallel based on panel data on the stock and bond markets and the asset sizes of...

US. State Public Pension Fund Returns Expected to Decline

About 29 million Americans have been promised retirement benefits through state public sector pension systems. And more than half of those benefits depend on earnings generated by nearly $4 trillion in assets held in trust by those systems.1 However, with more than two-thirds of those assets allocated to risky investments—publicly traded stocks, also known as equities, and alternative vehicles, including private equity, real estate, and hedge funds—retirement systems’ ability to meet their commitments hinges largely on investments that are...