Highlights

Mrs. Nadia FETTAH and Mr. Fouzi LEKJAA participate in a study day on "The sustainability of pension schemes in the light of the generalization of social protection"

23/02/2022
Mrs. Nadia FETTAH and Mr. Fouzi LEKJAA participate in a study day on "The sustainability of pension schemes in the light of the generalization of social protection"

On Wednesday, February 23rd 2022, Mrs. Nadia FETTAH, Minister of Economy and Finance, made a presentation to the Committee of Finance and Economic Development of the House of Representatives on the "Reform of the pension system: Challenges and prospects" during a day initiated under the theme "The sustainability of pension schemes in the light of the generalization of social protection".

Mrs. Nadia FETTAH emphasized that the pension schemes have collected, for the year 2020, an amount of 62.74 billion dirhams (MMDH) of contributions and that the benefits provided were established, for their part, at 67.9 MMDH, including 32.6 MMDH of the Moroccan Retirement Fund (CMR) and 22.9 MMDH of the National Social Security Fund (CNSS).

She recalled in this sense that the active contributors covered by the pension schemes have reached, for the same year, more than 4.5 million people, adding that the number of beneficiaries was more than 1.4 million people.

The Minister also outlined the challenges facing public and private sector pension systems, noting that the current pension system is characterized by heterogeneity at several levels.

Reviewing the current state of the civil pension system after the parametric reform that came into effect in 2016, the Minister raised that the system will exhaust its reserves (70 MMDH) by 2028. She stated that in order to meet its obligations thereafter, the CMR would need about 14 MMDH per year to finance the system deficit. "The current level of the contribution rate (28%) and the legal retirement age (63 years) leave little room to adopt a new parametric reform," she noted in this regard.

As for Mr. Fouzi LEKJAA, Minister Delegate in charge of the Budget, the financing of social protection is based on two mechanisms. A first mechanism is based on the contribution (28 billion dirhams) intended for people able to help finance social coverage, and a second one based on solidarity (23 billion dirhams), for people who do not have the ability to contribute to the financing. Regarding the implementation of the generalization of the basic compulsory health insurance, the Minister noted that this program attracted 561,898 non-salaried workers until February 2022, against 10,045 in October 2021, with an average age of 50 years, highlighting that it is necessary to take steps to reach the 3.2 million members by the end of June.

He noted in this regard that this includes awareness and communication of the CNSS, but also the mobilization of various ministerial departments involved.

During this event, many presentations were made by Mr. Hassan BOUBRICK, Director General of the National Social Security Fund , Mr. Lotfi BOUJENDAR, Director of the Moroccan Retirement Fund, Mr. Khalid CHEDDADI, Director General of the Moroccan Interprofessional Pension Fund, Mr. Mohamed Ali BENSOUDA, General Manager of the Pension Division in the Moroccan (CDG) “ Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion”, Mr. Othman Khalil EL ALAMY, President of the Supervisory Authority of Insurance and Social Welfare (ACAPS), and Mr. Younès BENAKKI, Secretary General of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council.