At their latest session, the Government of FBiH defined the draft law on voluntary pension funds, which represents an integral part of the Strategy for reform of the pension system in FBiH.
All experts agree that the current pension system is unsustainable, with one retiree per one employee. The model of intergenerational solidarity has simply outdated in the world.
The general world trend in the field of pension funds is the approach to the so-called three-pillar pension fund. This means that unlike one pillar that currently holds the BiH pension system (the national one), three pillars are formed.
“The first one is the obligatory national pillar of the pension systems to which the funds will be allocated from the gross wage of employees. The second pillar is mandatory, but the employee can choose whether the part of his contributions for pension insurance will be paid to private of national pension funds, and the third pillar is the voluntary one and represents a private pension fund,” explained the economic analyst Admir Čavalić.
Of all countries in the region, Croatia went the farthest when it comes to this issue.
“The biggest problem here is the lack of financial means to conduct a successful transition from one-pillar to multi-pillar pension fund. Certain countries have executed privatization of major companies; in South America some countries even privatized mines in order to ensure stability of the pension fund, in order for it to be reformed, in order to preserve the long-term sustainability,” Čavalić said.
The question arises: how to conduct the necessary transition from the existing pension fund without increasing pension contributions?
“The ideal situation would be to use any funds from the sales of public goods, i.e. from privatization, for the reform of major social systems such as the pension system and health insurance system,” Čavalić said.
Government of FBiH stated that the adoption of the new law on pension system will create a legal framework for further reform of the pension fund. Thus, amendments to the law are a priority so that the citizens would experience in the best possible way the transition towards some new and better system that will guarantee regular and higher pensions.
(Source: klix.ba)
