FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WITH PICTURE
MARCH 30 2022
‘EARLY ACCESS TO PENSIONS COULD SUBDUE SECTOR, INCREASE POVERTY’ – BENCON
Benefits Consulting Services calls for stakeholder engagement on FinMin’s proposal to allow citizens to access part of their pension before retirement.
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – As we mark Financial Literacy Week this month, pensions have taken a front seat, particularly following the 2022 National Budget announcement in October when the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Hon. Situmbeko Musokotwane presented laid out a roadmap for the economic recovery of the country.
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – As we mark Financial Literacy Week this month, pensions have taken a front seat, particularly following the 2022 National Budget announcement in October when the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Hon. Situmbeko Musokotwane presented laid out a roadmap for the economic recovery of the country.
Of particular interest was the Minister’s significant pronouncement with respect to pension reforms in Clause 129 of the 2022 National Budget which may involve amendments to the Pension Scheme Regulation Act No. 28 of 1996 (PSRA 96) to effectively allow members to access part of their pension benefits before they reach retirement age.
Benefits Consulting Services Zambia Limited Chief Executive Officer Bryson Hamanzuka warned that the proposal may have a profound negative effect on retirees and the local pension sector in general.
“If the Government implements this measure, it will spell doom for the pensions and retirement industry,” he said.
“This will have far-reaching consequences on the social security conditions of citizens as people will be thrown into destitution and abject poverty in their old age. This country has no universal social security safety net except for the meagre and controversy plagued social cash transfer programme.”
Mr Hamanzuka noted that despite membership being compulsory, the National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA), which had been in existence since 2000, did not provide a sufficient universal social security net hence the need for Zambia to build an independent pensions and retirement benefits industry.
He added that it was imperative for the country to learn from similar policies that had been made in the past with the overall impact on retirees’ long-term well-being being largely detrimental.
“As things have stood since 2004, members have been allowed to withdraw their pension benefits from Private occupational pension scheme at the termination or variation of their employment contracts. As stakeholders we have been lobbying government to repeal this provision to safeguard and enhance accrued rights under the pension schemes. If they now put forward the increased ability of members to access their benefits, the pensions and retirement industry would suffer greatly, the ripple effect would be the worsening of the already dire social security situation many pensioners face.”
Meanwhile well-respected pensions expert Steve Williams called on stakeholders to re-examine the nature, structure, and relevance of pension schemes in their current form to the average Zambian if the industry was to achieve long-term sustainability.
He said: “The pensions in Zambia were effectively inherited from the colonial era, which adopted much the same rules and rationale for pension schemes that prevailed in the U.K. at that time.”
“Unfortunately, there has never been a serious debate amongst stakeholders in Zambia (Government, trade unions, employers, members etc) as to whether pension schemes are desirable for the people, institutions, economy or development of the nation and it seems that this is a discussion that needs to take place sooner rather than later before we witness the death of occupational pensions in Zambia,” explained Mr Williams.
“According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a pension is defined as, ‘A regular payment made during a person’s retirement from an investment fund to which that person or their employer has contributed during their working life.’”
“’Retirement’ being the keyword here. The standard retirement age in Zambia is 60. One can retire earlier than that due to various reasons including physical demands of a particular occupation or disability, ill health, and death. Thus, by definition, if the Government allows for benefits to be paid out before retirement, the scheme ceases to be a pension as we know it.”
The arguments for the existence of occupational pension schemes can be summarised as follows:
- There is a moral obligation on employers to ensure that loyal and long serving employees are not cast into destitution at the end of their working lives.
- Relying on individuals to save sufficient money from their incomes to sustain their standard of living at retirement is a noble but unrealistic idea. Studies have shown that even in countries with a high average level of earnings, few people are willing to put aside sufficient money for this purpose. Money now is, for most people, preferable to ‘potential’ (i.e. If I live long enough) money in 10, 20 or 30 years’ time.
- Ultimately governments must face the consequences if individuals cannot make ends meet after retirement. As life expectancy increases and the reliance on the extended family system declines (as has been the case in countries as they develop) more and more people will come to rely on assistance from the government if they do not have the financial resources to survive in retirement.
- National pension schemes at worst do not provide anything like adequate benefits and at best only provide a minimal survival level. To uplift income in retirement to a level sufficient to maintain living standards approaching those enjoyed during employment, occupational schemes are essential.
- One of the biggest benefits of pension schemes, which cannot be underestimated, is that they provide a huge source of long-term investment funds.
“Pension funds are the single largest group of investors in the major stock markets of the world and the success of the largest economies of the world can be linked directly to the development of their pensions industries,” Mr Williams added.
“The main reason for this is that members cannot access their funds prior to retirement, and this enables the fund managers to take a long-term view.”
“If members are allowed to withdraw their funds before retirement, it will lead to increased levels of penury amongst the elderly, leading to increased levels of dependency on the younger members of society either directly or through increased taxation. This in turn will reduce their ability to achieve their goals of educating children, property ownership, entrepreneurial activity, providing for their own retirement etc. It will also deprive the economy of a major source of long-term investment.”
Mr Williams noted that if investment managers had to maintain a high level of liquidity to fund constant withdrawals by members, then they would not be able to make long term investments adding that it was long term investments that provided the best returns for the scheme and by extension the members and the economy.
“There may well be compelling arguments in opposition to those outlined above and we would like to have those views aired in public for all pension industry stakeholders. If the consensus is that pension schemes are not appropriate in the Zambian context then they should be converted into voluntary employee savings schemes – which seems to be the way, they are heading by default rather than by design.”
“However, if the consensus is that pensions are desirable and beneficial, then we need to ensure that occupational pensions are actively promoted and encouraged,” he concluded.
-Ends-
About Saturnia Regna Pension Fund
The Saturnia Regna Pension Fund is Zambia’s largest private pension fund, providing pension plans to employees at 200 corporates covering more than 36,130 employees.
The fund manages K3 billion of net assets including shares in most of the companies listed on the Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE) and investments in Zambian Government Treasuries.
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