The first ministers cabinet meeting in Spain on Tuesday approved the rise in pensions by 0.9%. The increase will be applied retroactively from January 1 and will affect more than 10 million Spaniards, both contributory and non-contributory and passive class pensions. It will cost the Spanish coffers 1.4 bn euros.
BancaMarch | The European Commission warns that Spain is moving away from the adjustment path and asks for measures that compensate the alignment of pensions with prices.
Moody’s warns that a broad reversal of reforms, especially of pensions or the labour market, would exert downward pressure on its rating for Spain.
Ángel de la Fuente (Fedea) | One of the most controversial aspects of the 2013 reform of the Spanish system of public pensions has been the introduction of a revaluation index (the so-called IRP) which linked the updating of pensions, once triggered, to the financial situation of Social Security, thus abandoning the traditional reference to inflation measured by the consumer price index (CPI). Given the measure´s unpopularity, once inflation recovered after the crisis, it did not take long for it to be provisionally suspended. Currently, there seems to be a broad consensus among the main politically parties to abolish it altogether, returning to the general indexing of pensions to the CPI.
Miguel Navascués | The winner of the recent elections, Pedro Sánchez, defined his objective in the previous debates with great precision: to end the increasing inequality in Spain. But inequality is not the main problem in Spain, it does not even have the nature of a problem. To begin, it is not increasing.
Emilio José González González via The Conversation | How many immigrants does Spain need to be able to pay the pensions? To put a figure is easy. The IMF, in an analysis entitled Challenges Beyond Financial Sustainability, concludes that 5.5 million immigrants will be needed between now and 2050, equivalent to 21% of the current population.
The 2018 budgets predict very optimistic increases in revenues (+6% in some taxes). But there is no real risk of non-compliance if spending remains tightly controlled.
It seems obvious that the most sensible thing to do with respect to retirement is to try to save something and invest it well to complement the meager pension which, foreseeably, the State will give us when we retire.
Companies have to make an effort to generate quality jobs so the recovery in confidence and consumption ends up being consolidated, says Mutua Madrileña chairman Ignacio Garralda.
Judging by the incessant comments these days from all kinds of financial experts and even independent voices, one of the best solutions for Spaniards in the face of the country’s serious pension system crisis is to sign up to a private pension plan. In reality, no-one has any doubt that the public pensions system will not be able to meet its commitment to providing a decent pension for future retirees, in line with their expectations. That said, are private pension plans the solution?