1. Mandatory funded pillars in CEE countries – reforms and reversals
Agnieszka Chłoń-Domińczak
Moscow, March 30th 2017

2. Outline
Pension reforms and reversals in CEE countries in two decades: from late 1990s until 2015
Post-reform experiences
Performance of funded schemes
Transition costs: plans and reality
Fiscal situation
Reversals of funded schemes and their impact on individual pension wealth
Conclusions

3. Pension reforms in CEE countries
Economic and social transition:
Reduced employment and rising unemployment in early 1990s
Rising costs of pension systems, widespread early retirement
Demographic change: sharp drop in fertility rates causing fast population ageing in the future
Pension reforms:
Changes in the PAYG pillar: from parametric reforms (rising retirement age, lower indexation or accrual rates) to paradigmatic reforms: introducing NDC schemes
Changes in pension financing: introducing multi-pillar schemes

4. Selected features of pension systems in 8 CEE countries
Public pension scheme
Retirement age
Mandatory funded contributions
Enactment date
Who participates
Bulgaria DB
60/55 à 63/60
2% ä 5%
2002
Mandatory for all workers <42
Estonia
60/55 à 63/63
6% (4% +2%)
Mandatory for new entrants
Latvia
Notional accounts
60/55 à 62/62
2% ä 8%
2001
Mandatory for new and workers < 30, voluntary for 30-50
Lithuania
60/55 à 62.5/60
2.5% ä 5.5%
2004
Voluntary for current and new workers
Hungary
6% ä 8%
1998
Poland
65/60 (60/55) à 67/67
7.3%
1999
Romania
62/57 à 65/60
2% ä 3%
2008
Mandatory for new and workers < 35, voluntary for 36-45
Slovak Republic
Points
60/ à 62/62 9%
2005
Mandatory for born after 1983
Source: A.Schwarz and O.Arias, The Inverting Pyramid (2014)

5. Pension expenditure (% GDP)
Source: EUROSTAT Espross database

6. Trends in pension fund assets (% GDP)
The drop in pension fund investments in 2011 comes from a pension reform which suspended payments to the mandatory funded individual schemes and redirected all the contributions to pay-as-you-go public pension schemes, unless workers chose to keep these individual schemes by the end of January 2011.
(The drop in pension fund investments in 2014 comes from the reversal of the mandatory funded pension system that led to a transfer of domestic sovereign bonds held by open pension funds into the social security system.
(3) The break in series in 2006 is due to the inclusion of voluntary pension plans, not included in the previous years.
Source: OECD Global Pension Statistics

7. Investment returns in CEE funded pension pillars
Country
Type of fund
Starting date of calculations
Average annual rate of return (%)
Bulgaria
mandatory
-2.06
Estonia
all
-0.10
conservative
-0.91
balanced
-0.96
progressive
0.33
aggressive
1.61
Latvia
-1.22
-1.65
-1.75
Lithuania
-0.84
stable
0.00
-0.21
-0.85
Hungary
classic
until end of 2007
3.39
2.05
1.70
growth
0.75
Poland
5.74
Romania
5.97
Slovakia
-0.42
-1.40
-1.63
indexed
1.75
Investment returns in CEE funded pension pillars
Source: Bielawska, Chłoń-Domińczak, Stańko (2016)

8. Accumulated real returns (investment) in CEE funded pension pillars
Generally not satisfactory – either minus or low positive values
Problem with asset allocation (investment limits, return guarantees, local market capacities)
Only three funded pension systems with satisfactory results – Hungary, Poland and Romania
Actual investment performance cannot serve as a justification for pension reversals done in first two countries

9. The concept of financing the transition costs
Three sources of covering the transition costs:
financing from taxes and other budgetary revenues (burden for working generation),
financing from savings in the existing PAYG system (burden for retired generation),
through an increase of the general government debt (burden for future generations).
The choice of the source for financing the transition costs is a crucial decision in terms of the reform success or failure.

10. Expected and actual sources of financing transition costs
Source: Bielawska, Chłoń-Domińczak and Stańko (2016)

11. Transition costs Country Period Total transition cost Poland 2001-2012
16,0
Hungary
9,9
Slovakia
8,9
Bulgaria
8,0
Estonia
6,2
Lithuania
5,0
Latvia
4,9
Romania
1,6
Source: Bielawska, Chłoń-Domińczak and Stańko (2016)

12. Decomposition of financing transition costs by country (% of GDP)
Bulgaria
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Dark blue: old-age savings, medium blue: taxes, light blue: general government debt
Source: Bielawska, Chłoń-Domińczak and Stańko (2016)

13. Decomposition of financing transition costs by country (% of GDP)
Hungary
Poland
Romania
Slovakia
Dark blue: old-age savings, medium blue: taxes, light blue: general government debt
Source: Bielawska, Chłoń-Domińczak and Stańko (2016)

14. Total transition costs by source of financing
Source: Bielawska, Chłoń-Domińczak and Stańko (2016)

15. Pre-crisis pension reform implementation challenges
Despite initial plans in most of the CEE countries pension reforms were financed by increasing public debt
As a result it meant that the part of the implicit pension liabilities were turned into explicit one
Governments were not persistent in pursuing the initial reform agenda related to financing transition
Privatization used for other purposes
Pension savings were not generated (higher indexation of pensions, postponing increase of retirement age)
EU accession and necessity to follow Stability and Growth Pact requirements, combined with rising deficit and public debt led to the reversals decisions

16. Financial and fiscal crisis
Rising public deficit and debt levels
Falling capacity to finance transition costs
For the EU countries: excessive deficit procedures
Negative or low returns and high administrative costs
Low levels of trust towards pension funds
Short-term assessment perspective

17. Latvia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania
Economic and fiscal situation of CEE countries after reform implementation
Specification
Country
Economic slowdown or recession in years following reform implementation
Poland (2000 – 2001)
Romania (2009 – 2010)
GGS deficit above 3% GDP
Poland, Hungary
GGS deficit close to 3% GDP
Slovakia
GGS deficit below 3% GDP or GGS surplus
Latvia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania

18. Fiscal situation – general government deficit and debt

19. Fiscal situation – general government deficit and debt

20. Changes in funded DC schemes after 2008
Reversals
Bulgaria
No change.
Estonia
Temporary reduction with off-set. 6% contribution rate cut to 0% between June 2009 and January 2011 and shifted to PAYG. Gradual increase from Rate set at 3% in January 2011 and 6% in January In at 8% to offset missed contributions
Latvia
Partial reduction. 8% contribution rate reduced to 2% in May Rates increased to 4% from 2013
Lithuania
Partial reduction. 5.5% contribution rate reduced to 2% in July Rates further lowered to 1.5% in January 2012 and 2.5% in Change to 3% (2%+ 1%) January 2014, voluntary participation. Additional contribution at 2% in
Hungary
Permanent reversal. Contribution rate reduced to 0% in January 2011 assets transferred to the mandatory PAYG system.
Poland
Permanent reduction and partial reversal. Contribution rate reduced to 2.3% in May From February 2014 contribution at 2.92%, in February 2014 assets invested in government bonds transferred to PAYG scheme and redeemed. In 2014 system made opt-out and opt-in in specified time slots. Assets from FF transferred gradually to PAYG 10 years prior to retirement.
Romania
Temporary reduction. Slowing the planned increase path of contribution rate from 2% to 6%. Rate froze at 2%, started to increase from 2011 at annual rate of 0,5pp to 5% in 2015, then 5.1% in 2016 and 6% from 2017 onwards
Slovakia
Permanent reduction. 9% contribution reduced to 4% in Funded scheme opt-out and opt-in system.
Source: A.Schwarz and O.Arias, The Inverting Pyramid (2014) updated by authors

21. Contribution changes Difference in initial contribution levels
But also difference in the reduction of contribution rates
Permanent change in Latvia, Poland and Slovakia

22. Assessing the impact of reversals on individual pension wealth: assumptions
Based on the Ageing Working Group (AWG) assumptions:
GDP growth: per cent annually
Wage growth: 2.0– 2.4. per cent annually
Financial market rate of return: 3.0
Life expectancy at 65: based on Eurostat population projection
There is a significant amount of uncertainty due to possible deviations from the assumptions !

23. Calculating pension wealth change
The difference between future value of accumulated contributions paid to the FF tier after change and before the change
plus
The difference between future value of accrued pension rights in the PAYG tier after change and before the change
Estonia
There are no additional rights granted in the pay-as-you-go system. As the contribution rate was initially decreased and increased afterwards to compensate for the change, pension rights in the pay-as-you-go system remain unchanged.
Latvia
Reduced contributions are transferred to the general NDC account of an individual. This account is indexed according to wage fund growth. In the simulation, the level of indexation is equal to average productivity growth between 2010 and 2060.
Lithuania
The pay-as-you-go system is a defined benefit scheme. In the case of funded system participants, the benefit part that is related to individual earnings is reduced proportionally to the contribution rate. It is done by applying a coefficient equal to contribution rate for funded part in numerator and full contribution rate for social insurance old-age supplemental part in denominator (9.3%). The accrual rate is equal to 0.5% of wage.
For the calculation of pension right, the difference in correction coefficients is calculated and translated into compounded accrual rate for a pension. This value is multiplied by life expectancy at the age of 65 in a calendar year where individual reaches the age of 65. For the reasons of comparability, the life expectancy is an average of male and female values. The comparison of accrued pension rights does not take into account additional contributions that are deducted from wage, as it was not a part of the initial pension system.
Poland
Reduced contributions are transferred to the NDC-2 account in the PAYG system. The gain in pension rights is calculated as the accumulated value of contributions paid to the NDC-2 account indexed to the 5-year averaged GDP growth. NDC-2 account was established in the Polish system after the reduction of initial contribution rates, it has a different indexation factor (NDC account is indexed to covered wage bill growth). NDC-2 account balance is inherited and paid out in cash in the case of death of pension system participant before claiming retirement.
Romania
Romania has a point system, in which an average earner accumulates one pension point in the case of average working career. For the purpose of the simulation, the length of the average career is set at the level of 30 years. The change in the pay-as-you-go pension rights is calculated by applying a coefficient equal to fully funded contribution level divided by the total social insurance contribution (31.3% of wage). The additional pension point values accumulated are equal to the difference in correction coefficient between initial and post-2008 contribution rates multiplied by 1/30 (reflecting and accrual of proportion of pension point). The value of pension point in 2013 was lei and is indexed by 50% of average wage growth. The accumulated value of pension points between 2009 and age of 65 is multiplied by life expectancy at the age of 65 forecasted for a year when individual reaches the age of 65. For the reasons of comparability the life expectancy is averaged between men and women (unisex).
Slovakia
Slovakia has a point system, in which an average earner accumulates one pension point for each year of contribution payments. There are solidarity adjustments in the case of people earning below and above average wage. The change in the pay-as-you-go pension rights is calculated by applying a coefficient equal to fully funded contribution level divided by the total social insurance contribution (18% of wage).
The additional pension point values accumulated are equal to the difference in correction coefficient between initial and post-2008 contribution rates. The value of pension point in 2013 was EUR and is indexed by average wage growth. The value of pension points is reduced for earnings above 125% of average wage (reduction factor is 60%) and the value of pension points for earnings below 100% of average wage are increased by 22%. The accumulated value of pension points between 2009 and age of 65 is multiplied by life expectancy at the age of 65 forecasted for a year when individual reaches the age of 65. For the reasons of comparability the life expectancy is averaged between men and women (unisex).

24. Change in pension wealth for average wage earner

25. Conclusions
Each of the analyzed countries is characterized by different combination of socio-economic factors taken into account
Reversals of pension reforms were caused by a set of socio-economic factors, including most importantly
poor fiscal situation
rising pressure from current pension system expenditure
Countries that introduced permanent changes also faced pressures from rising expenditure and number of beneficiaries in the pension system
Performance of pension funds had little impact on reversal decisions
Permanent reversals and reductions were made in countries with highest demographic pressures foreseen in next decades

26. Conclusions
Reversals of the multi-pillar scheme have different outcomes on expected pension levels, which depends mainly on the design of the PAYG scheme
In the case of higher pension expectations, the change leads also to higher level of implicit liabilities, which means that the change increases total public liabilities (Slovakia)
In the case of lower pension expectations, the change leads to similar level of public liabilities, but there is an efficiency loss

27. Conclusions
The design of the matching part of the pay-as-you-go system affects the potential pension wealth, which may have influenced some of the individual decisions (in those countries which left a choice to pension system participants)
Recent modifications in funded systems increased the reliance of future pension income on wage-based financing, which will be more difficult to achieve given projected labour supply shortages due to the population ageing in the future

28. Lessons learnt
These findings should be seen only as one of the outcomes of the recent wave of pension systems changes. One should not forget that the change in the proportion of contributions affects the risk diversification of financing future pensions.
The changes also could have resulted in a loss of society trust towards state- organised pension system and reliability of accumulated pension savings.

29. Lessons learnt
Explicit and implicit debt are not treated equally in financial/political world
transition costs generate new debt, explicit/implicit debt priced very differently by financial markets
Implicit debt theoretical: depends on future policy, not to be actually paid (implicit financing)
Explicit debt real: current and real liability, often against foreign investors
More realistic assessment of privatization benefits
Higher returns expectation were optimistic (and defeated by bond financing), transaction costs of individual accounts high
No evidence of pulling workers from shadow economy

30. Lessons learnt Private pillars not immune to regulatory risks/shocks
Diversification: reducing risks by investing in a variety of uncorrelated assets (micro-level)
but pension system exposed to macro-level shocks
Private pillars not immune to regulatory risks/shocks
inflation tax, tax on interest, other regulatory tools, default on bonds, a possibility of nationalization
The future of pension financing remains a challenge:
„demographically old but not yet economically rich”

31. (Bielawska, Chłoń-Domińczak, Stańko, 2016)
Thank you
Research included in this presentation was financed from research grant number UMO- 2012/05/B/HS4/04206 from National Science Centre in Poland
Retreat from mandatory pension funds in countries of the Eastern and Central Europe in result of financial and fiscal crisis: Causes, effects and recommendations for fiscal rules
(Bielawska, Chłoń-Domińczak, Stańko, 2016)