March 2020

04Mar

Uganda. World Bank update, a reminder of our development strategy

For the first time, Uganda’s major external funding partner, the World Bank, in its 14th Uganda Economic Update, emphasised Social Protection programmes as an important policy tool for building resilience, mitigating risks and supporting households to invest in human capital development. Uganda has continuously prioritised investment in physical infrastructure over the years and indeed, the proposed budget for the financial year 2020/21 has works and transport taking up the biggest share of the resource envelope at 19.7% up from...

March 4, 2020
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03Mar

UK. Pension transfer market needs regulation, says industry

Ministers are facing calls to give powers to regulators to supervise the corporate pension transfer market after claims that companies are pressuring employees to quit their valuable retirement schemes. Senior figures in the pension industry said a voluntary code of practice that is meant to prevent abuses by employers was no longer working. The concerns centre on how employers have the ability to initiate exercises under which workers who are members of their defined benefit pension schemes can swap...

March 3, 2020
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03Mar

South Africa. Ramaphosa backs plan to trim public servants wage bill, instead of affecting pensions

The decision to try cutting the government’s runaway wage bill was a better available option in trimming down the state’s spending. This is according to President Cyril Ramaphosa who, in his weekly newsletter, said that the other available option would have had a bigger and negative impact on civil servants and South Africans in general. According to Ramaphosa, the government had two options available in cutting down its spending - renegotiate 2020 salaries increases with public sector unions or...

March 3, 2020
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03Mar

Ukraine. Pensions will increase by average of $50 by 2023, – Sokolovska

In 2020, pensions will be indexed - people over 80 years old will increase payments by an average of $22 / month. By 2023, the average pension will increase by $50 / month. Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine Yulia Sokolovska on her Facebook page. "There will be an indexation of pensions! And with it, a new pension growth strategy that the government team and the deputy corps developed on behalf of President Vladimir Zelensky! The initiative is to...

March 3, 2020
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03Mar

US. On Social Security benefits, Biden just came around to the increases Sanders has backed for decades

By Mark Weisbrot The biggest demographic divide in the current Democratic primary battle for president is not by gender or race, but by age. This is especially true if we accept the view of some analysts that the race is looking like a two-person contest between front-runner Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. In a recent national poll from Survey USA, Sanders showed a commanding lead among younger voters (age 18-34), with 47% to Biden’s 13%. But among senior citizens (65+), Biden...

March 3, 2020
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02Mar

Macron Bypasses Lawmakers to Pass France Pension Overhaul

French President Emmanuel Macron moved Saturday to pass his pension overhaul without a vote in the legislature, seeking to brush aside tens of thousands of amendments filed by opposition lawmakers to slow debate. “It is clear that a discussion on the merits was never truly able to take place” in the legislature, Prime Minister Édouard Philippe said, invoking an article of the French constitution allowing the executive branch to bypass the legislature. “I deeply regret it.” The move...

March 2, 2020
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02Mar

Argentinean House of Deputies approves changes to privileged pensions

After a heated debate between the ruling party and the opposition, the Argentinean House of Deputies passed a draft bill to modify the pension system for judges and diplomats. Although the voting resulted in 129 votes in favor and none against, the legislative debates were heated. The bench of Juntos por el Cambio denounced 'irregularities' to gather the necessary quorum to debate the draft bill, due to the presence of lawmaker Daniel Scioli, who made it clear that he...

March 2, 2020
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02Mar

Coronavirus fears wipe £200bn off UK firms’ value

London's FTSE 100 share index has seen one of its worst weeks since the depths of the financial crisis in 2008 as markets continue to reel from the impact of the coronavirus. Shares have shed almost 13% of their value, wiping £210bn from the value of companies on the index. Investors are worried after a surge in the number of companies warning about the impact of the outbreak on firms. US markets are also in the red, with markets...

March 2, 2020
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02Mar

New Zealand. Reverse mortgages boom as pensioners opt to put retirement on the house

Low interest rates and high house prices are prompting more retirees to take out a reverse mortgage against their homes. Reverse mortgages - primarily offered in New Zealand by Heartland Bank - allow people to borrow a sum of money against their houses. They do not have to make any repayments until the house is sold. But interest accrues and compounds while the loan is not being repaid, so the amount that finally falls due can be a lot...

March 2, 2020
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February 2020

28Feb

The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality

By Angus Deaton The world is a better place than it used to be. People are healthier, wealthier, and live longer. Yet the escapes from destitution by so many has left gaping inequalities between people and nations. In The Great Escape, Nobel Prize–winning economist Angus Deaton—one of the foremost experts on economic development and on poverty—tells the remarkable story of how, beginning 250 years ago, some parts of the world experienced sustained progress, opening up gaps and setting the...

February 28, 2020
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