The vice president of the International Federation of Pension Fund Administrators (FIAP), Karol Fernández, said that the way the plebiscite is planned "is very misleading."
The new executive vice president of the International Federation of Pension Fund Administrators (FIAP), Karol Fernández, questioned the plebiscite against the social security reform in Uruguay and warned that "there is a risk" linked to the way the plebiscite is proposed .
The Costa Rican economist - who has developed her career mainly in Chile - was interviewed by the Chilean media Diario Financiero and when asked about the different discussions that are taking place in several countries around social security, she stated that "there are many challenges in the region" due to the "many populist reforms that are being discussed.
In the specific case of Uruguay, the representative of the FIAP - an international entity that seeks to promote pension savings and individual capitalization systems - said that "the way" in which the plebiscite against the pension reform is being proposed is very misleading. social security "because they are going to ask three things in one question. One, if you agree with lowering the retirement age; two, raising benefits, that is, 'earn more and younger; but at the same time - third question that he considers - he has to give up or hand over his pension savings' and, with that, individual accounts would be eliminated," he explained.
In that sense, Fernández pointed out that "the surveys show that people are obviously very in favor of the first two, but against the third, around 90%" but "as in the plebiscite they are going to ask everything together and not There will be three questions, there is a risk," he said.
On the other hand, the economist defended individual capitalization systems and said that "they are the path towards which all countries" should aim, "because pay-as-you-go systems are simply not going to be able to survive" due to demographic trends and the high labor informality.
"In our region, pay-as-you-go systems simply cannot survive and when attempts are made, it is always due to populist policies that try to push them because they do not like private companies that administer pensions," he said.
When asked about possible solutions to this challenge, Fernández pointed out that "everything can be solved with social dialogue, with workers, employers and the State also participating in decisions." On this point, he said that he does not see the fact that the State has a pension savings fund administrator (AFAP) as "bad" and mentioned that this happens in Uruguay, Mexico and Costa Rica. "As long as they compete with the same rules, if possible," he said.
On the other hand, the vice president of FIAP gave her opinion on the convenience of raising the minimum retirement age and said that "when one sees that the retirement age has still been stuck for so many years and our life expectancy is much higher, it is makes it necessary to move forward in adjusting retirement ages, especially for women.
However, he warned that for this to work, it must be considered that the labor market "has to accept senior workers and value them," as well as taking into account that this adjustment has to be gradual.
