May 2024
27May

UK State Pension expected to increase by over £650 next April, based on triple lock guarantee

Finance experts have predicted that the new state pension will increase by over £650 from next April, pushing it to just above £12,150 a year. This is based on the triple lock guarantee, which ensures the state pension rises in line with the highest of three measures - September inflation, May-July wage growth or 2.5 per cent. In April 2022, the state pension saw an increase of 10.1 per cent due to rampant inflation, followed by another substantial rise of...

May 27, 2024
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07May

Brazil officials eye curbs on pension spending, but Lula may resist

Senior officials in Brazil's economic team are signaling a need to curb pension spending in order to shore up public accounts, although their biggest challenge may be convincing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to take such a measure. Despite a sweeping 2019 pension reform, spending on retirements and pension benefits continues to surge, affected by an aging population and Lula's policy of boosting benefits by more than inflation. Treasury Secretary Rogerio Ceron said last week that pension expenses "still deserve attention"...

May 7, 2024
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07May

Pakistan mulls pension reforms as government moves to curtail expenditure ahead of IMF talks

The Pakistan government said on Tuesday it was vital to reform the country’s pension system, including by raising the retirement age, to mitigate expenditure as Islamabad aims to save the system billions of dollars per year, with a committee formed to propose recommendations. The belt tightening moves come as Islamabad — which is facing a balance of payment crisis — is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure a new long-term bailout deal. In the past, Pakistan...

May 7, 2024
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January 2024
12Jan

The Fiscal Cost of Aging in Belgium: Pensions and Healthcare

By Jean-Jacques Hallaert Belgium faces a fiscal consolidation challenge at a time when the fiscal cost of aging—primarily related to pension and health outlays—is mounting. Pension spending will increase relatively fast unless a combination of measures related to pension generosity and retirement eligibility are put in place. Potential efficiency gains are large in the health sector and could absorb part of the fiscal and reorganization costs related to an aging population. Source SSRN

January 12, 2024
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June 2022
23Jun

Pensions to Rise With Inflation Even as UK Urges Pay Restraint

The UK government said the state pension will rise in line with inflation this year, a handout to elderly Britons even as Boris Johnson warned that doing the same for public sector salaries would not be feasible. Pensions will increase in step with September’s consumer price index, which is due to be “significantly higher than the forecast inflation rate” for the next fiscal year, Simon Clarke, chief secretary to the Treasury, said in a written response to a question in...

June 23, 2022
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23Jun

Swedish parliament passes mini-budget after pensions compromise

Sweden's parliament passed the government's extra budget on Wednesday after weeks of disagreement over extra money for pensioners, paving the way for increased spending on the police, defence and additional aid to Ukraine. The minority Social Democrat government, which hopes to win a third successive term in power at a general election in September, was forced to vote against its own budget last week to avoid having to adopt the opposition's finance bill. It then reintroduced interim spending plans, including around...

June 23, 2022
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October 2021
20Oct

Pension, health costs to dwarf COVID debt legacy in long term -OECD

The costs of repaying debt raised to help households and businesses through the COVID-19 crisis will be dwarfed by those from long-term trends like funding pensions and health services as societies age, the OECD said in a report on Tuesday. Read also  Canada. Uber drivers, gig workers pressure Ontario government for employee status Examining the economic outlook out to 2060, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said governments will increasingly have to contend with the costs associated with aging populations...

October 20, 2021
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September 2021
10Sep

The Government Debt Iceberg

By Jagadeesh Gokhale Europe and the United States will soon begin to encounter fiscal constraints the like of which we have never seen before. Federal debt as a percentage of GDP more than doubled between 2000 and 2012. According to the US Congressional Budget Office, total national debt is expected to remain close to 100 per cent of GDP during the next decade and begin to increase thereafter as the baby-boomers fully enter retirement. · Debt levels in European Union countries...

September 10, 2021
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June 2021
11Jun

How Does Social Security Reform Indecision Affect Younger Cohorts?

By John B. Shoven, Sita Slavov, John G. Watson The Social Security trust fund will be exhausted in the early 2030s. The U.S. government will need to make a choice about how to address the impending trust fund exhaustion, but it is unclear what it will choose to do. This indecision leaves young and middle-aged workers not knowing whether they will face Social Security benefit cuts, payroll tax increases, or an increase in the full retirement age. This uncertainty about...

June 11, 2021
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