Benkirane: Bankruptcy hovering around Morocco's pension funds

Abdelilah Benkirane says Morocco needs 'comprehensive and deep reform' of the pensions system Morocco's National Committee in charge of reforming the pension system is expected to hold its first meeting in seven years, on Wednesday, to discuss the works of the Technical Committee, headed by Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane.
Morocco's premier highlighted the dire state of the country's pension system at a recent Q & A session titled, Retirement Between Sustainability Regulations And The Limited Coverage. He said that the worsening state of pension funds threatens their sustainability over the medium and long term, adding that although some partial measures were taken to solve the problem, the government was unable to remove the spectre of bankruptcy from pension funds.
Benkirane said that only "comprehensive and deep reform" of the pensions system will solve the problem because the nation is paying the cost of delaying reform indefinitely. He added that reformist workshops are important, and require understanding, mobilisation and involvement of political and social actors, besides economists and civilians.
The National Committee in charge of reforming the pension system has not met since Prime Minister Driss Jettou's era in 2005. Former Prime Minister Abbas el-Fassi failed to bring members together despite an agreement in May 2011.