The AFP Trade Association requests a more in-depth discussion of the pension reform proposal

Source: Asofondos Press Release

• Santiago Montenegro, Chairman of Asofondos, said that government’s reform does not solve the problems it aims to address: coverage, equity and sustainability.
• The same results could be obtained without carrying out a structural reform.
• He requested the government to extend the term for the discussion of the reform and create a committee of experts to hammer out a project that addresses the major issues facing the pension system in Colombia.
• International experts agree that such reforms must have the broadest possible consensus and must aim at increasing coverage.

Within the framework of the VI FIAP ASOFONDOS Congress, the AFP Trade Association requested the government to extend the term for the discussion of the reform of the country’s pension system, since it is necessary to have a technical basis and a more in-depth analysis of the proposal to be debated in Congress.

“We believe that the discussion is ideologically charged, politically complex and technically challenging. But we are convinced that this debate must continue and that academics and international experts should be involved,” said Montenegro.

Montenegro said that the project, as presented, does not fully address the underlying problems or reduce the pension debt.

“The adjustments could have been made without touching the pension pillars. So what is the purpose of the reform?”

The Minister of Labor, Rafael Pardo, explained that the proposed reform seeks to strengthen both the public and private systems without having them compete with one another.  He said that the proposal is not a tax reform and that it does not seek to nationalize the pension system.

Regarding the discussion, he said “We are not in a hurry, but it is imperative to carry out a reform”.