The Government has created a commission for the pension system reform, as established in Supreme Decree 0821-2022-PCM, published yesterday in the newspaper El Peruano. The measure had already been announced in May by President Pedro Castillo. However, the surprise was that the working group will be chaired by the Premier Hannibal Torres and not by the head of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), Oscar Graham.
It was also noteworthy that the measure and the appointment of the premier occurred a few days after President Pedro Castillo signed a decree to intervene in the Magisterial Spill, the private social security entity for teachers in the country. This, as is known, aroused strong protests from the Unitary Union of Workers in Education of Peru (Sutep).
The decree
“Create the Multisectoral Commission of a temporary nature in charge of preparing the technical reports that contain an evaluation of the Peruvian pension system, as well as a regulatory proposal to create the new pension system, dependent on the Presidency of the Council of Ministers,” reads the report. document.
The working group will also be made up of the deputy ministers of Economy, Finance, Labor, and three other members who will be representatives of the Central Reserve Bank (BCR), the Superintendence of Banking, Insurance and AFPs (SBS) and the PCM. .
For him economist and former head of the SBS, Juan José Marthanshaving placed Aníbal Torres at the head of said commission “is worrying” and the fact that on Thursday the 7th the DS announced the Spill “is symptomatic.”
“We know what the profile of the prime minister is and why it is likely that in a few days he will leave his position. And then who is going to assume the reform? This is a fundamentally technical issue,” he asserted.
The main risk that could exist in the elaboration of the reform would be its politicization, according to Marthans, since the most affected would be the affiliates. “Introducing the political front (in the reform) would be disastrous and would generate distrust in the affiliates. And the big question that members ask themselves is: Can this government be trusted? Can the president be trusted? Can the prime minister or the one who is to come be trusted? We must be very careful so that these reforms are not a reason to drain the resources of those affiliated with the Private Pension System”.
Another worrying aspect is the absence in the commission of a representative of the Private Pension System or those of the affiliates of the AFPs, which, according to Marthans, would open the door to making mistakes. “The managers of the Private Pension System should be present, both instances must be present, to leave one of them out would be to repeat errors (…). Perhaps this proposal needs to be reevaluated,” Marthans said.
Data
-The members of the commission would be appointed in a maximum period of five business days, counted from today, so that the commission can then be installed in a similar period and thus function for six months.
-The objective of the working group will be to prepare two technical reports: one that evaluates the current system and the other with a regulatory approach for a new one.
