Government ignores pension crisis

The Panamanian Association of Business Executives (Apede) requested the Government –for the umpteenth time– to take immediate action on the looming problem regarding the pensions and retirements of the Social Security Fund (CSS), whose Disability, Old Age and Death projects a deficit of more than a billion dollars next year, that is, there will be no money, from the beginning of 2024, to pay retirees and pensioners. Although it is not the fault of the current government –since the previous ones left the problem aside for others to find a solution– the responsibility fell on it to face the crisis, but, like the ostrich when it hides its head, neither has done nothing. It does not seem interested in the future of the institution or the people who depend on it. And, as the private unions put it, it is not a question of patching up, but of finding long-term solutions. The worrying thing is that any measure implies that the State put up money or that quotas and/or the retirement age are increased, measures that will not be very popular at election time and with credibility destroyed by corruption. But it has been the lack of interest that has the government up against the wall, because, whether they like it or not, they have no choice but to face the crisis. – LA PRENSA, Mar.