The former president and leader of the Democratic Center, Álvaro Uribe, expressed his disagreement on social networks about the pension reform recently established by the government of Gustavo Petro.
(Read: Reforms would make labor one of the most expensive in the region).
Uribe says that with this proposal there will be “more money to spend, but at the cost of greater future indebtedness.” According to him, the project has three problems. In the first place, he considers that a support of 223,000 pesos to the vulnerable elderly would be equivalent to multiplying by three the annual budget of the item. Besides, there may be fewer contributors to pay those who receive a pension.
Along with this, he sees the high subsidy paid in Colpensiones as problematic because the contributions do not compensate for the value of the pension.
Faced with criticism, President Gustavo Petro was pronounced this Sunday, April 9 through Twitter, assuring that Uribe makes “two serious mistakes.” “To think that from the contributions paid by affiliates we are going to make government spending that is different from paying pensions to affiliates and to think that in 40 years we are going to maintain an unproductive economy“, assured the president.
(In addition: Pension reform would remove 70% of the current resources from the AFPs).
Former President Uribe has two serious errors regarding pension reform:
1. Thinking that from the contributions paid by affiliates we are going to make government spending other than paying pensions to affiliates and
2. Thinking that in 40 years we are going to maintain an unproductive economy https://t.co/rPNzFvZXWu
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) April 9, 2023
Likewise, the president referred to the criticism of the pension deficit that, according to Uribe, it could be aggravated by the reduction in the number of people born in the country.
“The critics of the reform always say that because the population will be older in several decades, the pension debt will explode. It is not true: demographic change is mitigated by increasing productivity and achieving more contributors to overcome povertyPetro added.
Finally, the leader of the Historical Pact defended the project that reached Congress. “The pension system that we propose will be sustainable in future decades if the Colombian economic model changes to a fairer and more productive one,” he concluded.
(See: Expert alerts on the March reform package).
pension problems. With the Reform there will be more money to spend in the present at the cost of more future debt. So much problem that could be solved with an economy with confidence and high growth pic.twitter.com/Y8ketUvpZr
— Álvaro Uribe Vélez (@AlvaroUribeVel) April 8, 2023
BRIEFCASE
