2000-01-10 Kazak Politics & MacroEconomics - Minister Against Privatisation
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Minister Against Privatisation of State Pension Fund, Points at Mistakes in Pension Reform
The Minister of Labour and Social Protection Nikolay Radostovets says he is against the liquidation of the State Pension Fund (SPF) and the distribution of its assets between private pension funds. He said many pensioners still trust their savings to SPF and this cannot be ignored. Radostovets emphasised the necessity of adopting two laws “On solidary pension system” and “On cumulative pension system” instead of the existing common law “On pension system”.
About 1.6 million accounts in cumulative pension funds were opened by mistake, Radostovets said. These mistakes were largely caused by computer programmes, though they are not related to the Y2K bug. There were also mistakes made by accountants and banks. He said the pension payments will be cross-checked by 1 April 2000.
The Minister noted that the recent session of the International Monetary Fund’s board of directors called the pension reform in Kazakhstan generally successful, but indicated a negative point of low involvement of pension money in the real sector of the economy. (Interfax)