Pension schemes association official: Fiscal Code should stimulate retirement savings even more

The Fiscal Code should include provisions that stimulate savings through Pillar 3, as well as through occupational pensions, with a view to increasing the living standards of retired Romanians, the president of the Association of Romania's Privately-managed Pension Funds (APAPR) Radu Craciun told the public debate on the draft law on the pay-out of private pensions organized on Tuesday by the Labor Ministry.Craciun emphasized that it is paramount that this regulatory act is thoroughly conceived and doesn't turn "into an experiment"."I don't think there are many successful reform projects Romania can boast, but I think that [the bill on the pay-out of private pensions] is about to turn out very well, with all its social impact, but also from the viewpoint of the capital market. (...) For this project to be highly successful, it is very important that the Pension Disbursement Law is of very good quality. And when I say this - I mean that it should not be an experiment. It should follow the success stories of other countries that have been doing this for a long time and that have managed to ensure prosperity for their retirees," stated Craciun.In this regard, he stressed that one must take into account the purpose this private pension system was created for in the first place, which is to ensure the quality of life of retired Romanians."Technical details aside, I think that the important things here are the principles, and they are related to how this money is used to ensure a quality of life not just in the first years of retirement, but over a longer period. Even though I know that it is not the subject of this meeting, the next task, once we have a Pension Disbursement Law in place, is to try to develop the system even more. And in order to do this, in order to encourage people to save more for retirement, I believe that just like in other countries, the provisions of the Fiscal Code should encourage retirement savings. I believe that in Romania savings through Pillar 3, through occupational pensions and so on should be encouraged more. So, even if it's not the subject of this discussion - I believe we, and the Finance Ministry too, will have to get back to it, because the prosperity of Romanians depends not only on how we make the disbursements, but also on how much money they save in these funds, and they must be encouraged to save more," the APAPR president said.