July 2019

08Jul

Greater percentage of Ghanaian pensioners live in penury

Lesley Dwight Mensah, an economist at the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), a local economic policy think tank explained to Xinhua that the reason for this condition was the lack of monthly pension payment for most people after the end of their service. “Only about 14 percent of Ghanaians in retirement age (population of 60 and above) receive a pension. As of the end of 2018, there were 1.9 million people in Ghana aged 60; and just about 270,000...

July 8, 2019
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May 2019

07May

Ghana’s pension authority now has the power to prosecute companies that don’t pay their employees’ pensions

The threat of prosecution comes after the Attorney General recently gave the pensions regulator prosecutorial powers to go after companies that default in their workers’ tier-2 pensions. The National Pensions Act 2008, Act 766, established a three-tier pension scheme consisting of three levels of contributions. The mandatory first tier is remitted to Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) with the tier-two, which is equally compulsory, paid on workers’ behalf by employers and managed by Private Pension Service Providers....

May 7, 2019
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06May

Ghana. Pensions regulator to ensure about 11m informal sector workers have pension schemes – CEO

The National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) has said that it is working on new policies to ensure that the more than 10 million workers in the informal sector are able to access a pension scheme. The current three-tier pension system does not favour the informal sector in that most workers do not have a regular source income like salaries which is a major factor that inhibits their contribution to a pension scheme. Thus, workers in the informal...

May 6, 2019
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April 2019

16Apr

Ghana. SSNIT identifies threat to scheme’s sustainability

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has identified the biggest threat to the sustainability of the scheme and has therefore adopted measures and policy interventions to deal with the emerging hiccups. “After prudent managerial auditing, we have identified among other things that in the current global technological advancement and changing phases of pension schemes good quality human resource or the lack of it, is critical to the survival of any pension scheme. “SSNIT Board and...

April 16, 2019
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10Apr

Ghana. NPRA To Unify Pension Schemes By 2021—Wireko Brobbey

The National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) is expected to unify Ghana’s fragmented pension scheme regime by the year 2021, a Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Bright Wireko Brobbey has disclosed. According to him, Cabinet has already given the approval for the development of a roadmap aimed at unifying all pension schemes which is expected to be completed by 2021. Currently, the consultation process which involves wider stakeholders is ongoing before it fully takes off with the unification....

April 10, 2019
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02Apr

Ghana. FinTechs look to regulator to make Digital Pensions Market more attractive

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IT Consortium Limited, Mr. Romeo Bugyei, has called for closer collaboration between government, regulatory bodies and FinTechs in Ghana to push informal pensions to citizens. He indicated that in order to achieve successful financial inclusion in the county, FinTechs must be supported to enable them efficiently deliver Digital Financial Services (DFS) to Ghanaians. He made this call at a stakeholder forum co-hosted by the Ghana Technology Chamber and the Ghana Chamber...

April 2, 2019
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November 2018

08Nov

Leveraging the Pensions Fund to Promote Mortgage Activities in Ghana.

Ghana’s housing deficit is currently hovering above 1.7 million units. This means the country will require about 700,000 units of houses annually to meet this demand and thus requiring an investment of about $52 billion over a 10 year period. A myriad of factors account for the above mentioned deficit, some of these include; the lack of project continuity resulting from change in governments, rural urban migration, population growth, high cost of mortgage financing etc. On the flip side however,...

November 8, 2018
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September 2018

17Sep

Pensions and living with your kids

By Markus Goldstein When a government implements a policy, there is often a question about how it will interact and/or displace existing informal practices. For example, awhile back there was a lot of discussion around how government provided insurance would displace (or not) informal risk sharing arrangements that may have been doing a good job of protecting some people from risk. But it’s hard to address this kind of question deeply in a randomized control trial. A lot of the informal...

September 17, 2018
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February 2018

20Feb

Ghana. Private pension funds hit GH¢9.7bn; expert wants funds used for prudent investments

Private pension funds have maintained their strong growth over the years, reaching a record high of GH¢9.7billion in 2017, from the previous year’s GH¢6.8billion. Data from the sector regulator, the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), show that 9.2 billion of the 9.7 billion was accrued from Assets Under Management (AUM) managed by licenced trustees, while some GH¢0.5billion came from the Temporary Pension Fund Account (TPFA). Last year’s figure, which is over 4.5 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), represents...

February 20, 2018
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19Feb

Improving the Targeting of Social Programs in Ghana

By Quentin Wodon This study provides a diagnostic of the benefit incidence and targeting performance of a large number of social programs in Ghana. Both broad-based programs (such as spending for education and health, and subsidies for food, oil-related products and electricity) as well as targetd programs (such as LEAP, the indigent exemption under the NHIS, school lunches and uniforms, or fertilizer subsidies) are considered. In addition, the study provides tools and recommendations for better targeting of those programs in...

February 19, 2018
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