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Welfare Reform on the Web (September 2001): Pensions - Overseas

CHANGING THE FINANCING OF THE LITHUANIAN PENSIONS SYSTEM

T Medaiskis

International Social Security Review, vol.54, no.2/3 2001, p.127-137.

A three tier system has been drafted and approved by the government. The first tier will consist of a national pension based on the residence principle, instead of the existing state pension based on the insurance principle. The second tier will be a compulsory funded system based on privately managed pension funds. Several important goals will thus be achieved:

  • dividing the old age security risk between pay-as-you-go and funded schemes;
  • boosting investment opportunities and encouraging the development of financial markets;
  • offering improved incentives for the working population to contribute, etc.
The third tier will comprise voluntary pension funds: their activities will be liberated and severe constraints on investment return removed.

NEW PENSIONS AGREEMENT

Anon

European Industrial Relations Review, no.329, 2001, p.18-20.

A new agreement aimed at overhauling pensions in Spain was signed on 9th April by the government, employer representatives and the trade union confederation CCOO. The deal builds on reforms agreed in 1996 and attempts to encourage people to work beyond 65, to discourage early retirement and to provide incentives for private pensions, which are still in their infancy.

THE PENSION SCHEME IN BELARUS: SITUATION ANALYSIS AND PERSPECTIVES

N Murashkevich

International Social Security Review, vol.54, no.2/3 2001, p.151-175.

It is proposed to create a three-tier pension system in Belarus. The first tier will consist of social pensions, funded out of the national budget, for people who have not provided adequately for their retirement through contributions to the state insurance scheme. The second tier will comprise pensions financed on a pay-as-you-go basis from current contributions to the state insurance scheme. The third level will consist of supplementary pensions paid by occupational or sectoral schemes run on accumulation principles.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF PENSION REFORM IN EASTERN EUROPE

K Müller

International Social Security Review, vol.54, no.2/3, 2001, p.57-79.

Article compares pension reform in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, and examines the circumstances which favoured radical change in Poland and Hungary, and held it back in the Czech Republic. The financial situation of the public pay-as-you-go scheme influences the perceived urgency of reform and determines whether the Finance Ministry, with its bias towards privatisation, enters the arena. The degree of the country's external debt determines whether the World Bank gets involved, with its policy advice modelled on the Chilean experience. Radical pension reform becomes feasible when actors favouring privatisation (the Finance Ministry and the World Bank) have greater leverage than the Welfare Ministry, which is likely to favour Bismarkian or Beveridgean paradigms.

TRENDS IN PENSION REFORM IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION: A BRIEF OVERVIEW

D Karasyov and Y Lubin.

International Social Security Review, vol.54, no.2/3, 2001, p.139-149.

The present pension reform programme consists of the following elements:

  • a state pension insurance pillar where pensions are directly related to length of employment and contributions paid to the state insurance fund;
  • a state pension security pillar financed from the national budget and covering categories such as civil servants and military personnel as well as people who do not quality for a pension under the insurance scheme;
  • supplementary pensions based on voluntary contributions to non-state schemes.