While Asia remains a key driver of global economic growth, the outlook for the region anticipates slow marginal growth for 2015 before rebounding in 2016 and remaining stronger for the next 2 years. India’s growth and the increased demand from the United States of America (US) will offset slower growth in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Looking at longer-term trends, rapidly ageing Asian populations and socio-cultural changes in the informal, family-based, old-age support mechanisms have created a rising demand for income and support services for the elderly and the poor. Therefore, governments and their populations are rightfully concerned about the long-term sustainability of their social security and fiscal health.
Public pension systems must find ways to cope with these pressures while many already struggle with structural challenges such as early retirement ages, diverging replacement rates under different systems, liberal withdrawal policies, and limited coverage. These factors are further exacerbated by restrictive investment mandates, which significantly curtail the ability of many developing pension systems to seek higher returns through a more diversified investment portfolio.
These conference proceeding include the following papers:
- Southeast Asia’s Demographic Challenges: Changes and Liabilities
- Lessons and Best Practices from Europe, Implications for Asia
- Pension System Design: A Broad Approach to Best Practice
- Public Pension Systems in Emerging Asia: Challenges to Fairness and Sustainability, and Reform Efforts
- Spotlight: Learning from Korea’s National Pension System Reform