External publications

Pension schemes and pension reforms in the Middle East and North Africa

Loewe, Markus
External Publications (2014)

in: Katja Hujo (ed.), Reforming pensions in developing and transition countries, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 69-101

ISBN: 978-1-13739-610-5
Information

The book chapter on “Pension Schemes and Pension Reforms in the Middle East and North Africa” by Markus Loewe adopts a comparative perspective on the public pension systems in the MENA region. It identifies how deficits pertaining to low coverage, segmentation, regressive redistribution, high administration costs, unsustainable benefit conditions and inefficient investment policies are being addressed and assesses the chances for more profound future pension reform. The chapter finds that governments throughout the region, with the exception of the Jordanian, are reluctant to implement more comprehensive pension reforms. While the governments of Egypt and Lebanon have not implemented laws that aimed to introduce new funded pension schemes, merely parametric reforms have been pursued in a number of countries. Additionally, among the countries that attempted to extend coverage of their pension schemes to informal sector workers, only Tunisia has been rather successful.