Publication:
Pension Systems in East Africa: A Deep Dive

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (5.24 MB)
5,852 downloads
English Text (540.95 KB)
6,867 downloads
Published
2019
ISSN
Date
2020-03-30
Author(s)
Abstract
In this book, the authors share the East African story of pensions with the world. We have tried to give readers a perspective on the state of pensions within the EAC and contribute toward the development of the sector. We have also sought to provide practical advice to the business community that has embraced the opportunity to invest in pensions businesses across the region. We hope this publication will provide a useful guide not only to the history, but to the future of our pension systems. With well-thought through policies and robust implementation, we believe that East Africa can put in place pension systems fit for the 21st century and beyond. In so doing, the region can provide leadership and lessons for the rest of the world.
Link to Data Set
Citation
World Bank. Musaali, Miriam; Stewart, Fiona, editors. 2019. Pension Systems in East Africa: A Deep Dive. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33497 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    The Financial Crisis and Mandatory Pension Systems in Developing Countries : Short-and Medium-Term Responses for Retirement Income Systems
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-12) Dorfman, Mark; Hinz, Richard; Robalino, David
    The international financial crisis has severely affected the value of pension fund assets worldwide. The unfolding global recession will also impose pressures on public pension schemes financed on a pay-as-you-go basis, while limiting the capacity of governments to mitigate both of theses effects. Governments are reacting to these events in different ways. Some are asking whether the balance between funded defined-contribution and unfunded pension schemes should be reconsidered. A few have already taken actions to reverse prior reforms. This note discusses the potential impacts of the financial crisis on fully funded and pay-as-you-go retirement-income systems in World Bank client countries, and identifies key short-and medium-term policy responses.
  • Publication
    Financial Sector Assessment Program - Albania : Developing Private Pensions in Albania
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-02) World Bank; International Monetary Fund
    This note sets out options to develop private pensions in Albania. It has been requested by the authorities to help create a more diversified pension system that can deliver improved outcomes for Albania in decades to come. A diversified pension system mixes state and private pensions as well as other sources of retirement income. The analysis, diagnosis, and recommendations use an outcome-based assessment framework. This technical note looks at how the pension system performs relative to 5 key outcomes: efficiency, sustainability, coverage, adequacy, and security. These outcomes depend on the political and economic environment in which a pension system operates, and its overall design including regulatory framework, market structure and conduct, and supervisory approach.
  • Publication
    Global Pension Systems and Their Reform : Worldwide Drivers, Trends, and Challenges
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-05) Holzmann, Robert
    Across the world, pension systems and their reforms are in a constant state of flux driven by shifting objectives, moving reform needs, and a changing enabling environment. The ongoing worldwide financial crisis and the adjustment to an uncertain 'new normal' will make future pension systems different from past ones. The objectives of this policy review paper are threefold: (i) to briefly review recent and ongoing key changes that are triggering reforms; (ii) to outline the main reform trends across pension pillars; and (iii) to identify a few areas on which the pension reform community will need to focus to make a difference. The latter includes: creating solutions after the marginalization or, perhaps, demise of Bismarckian systems in countries with high rates of informality; keeping the elderly in the labor market; and addressing the uncertainty of longevity increases in pension schemes.
  • Publication
    South Asia : Pension Schemes for the Formal Sector, Emerging Challenges and Opportunities for Reform
    (Washington, DC, 2005-01) World Bank
    For centuries informal arrangements such as intra-family transfers have been the primary source of old-age income support in South Asia. That remains true even today. Current patterns suggest that only around 1 in 10 of South Asia's half a billion workers will enter old age with a pension related to pre-retirement earnings. Pension schemes in South Asia cover small shares of the population, concentrated in the formal sector (table 1). Retirement income plans for the formal sector have for the most part performed poorly-both for their participants and for the economy. But while several countries in the region are exploring or already introducing reforms of civil service pension schemes, the performance of retirement income schemes available to the rest of the formal sector has received far less attention. The policy framework for most of these programs has barely changed since they were created, in some cases nearly half a century ago. Moreover, these schemes involve even more complex political economy issues, because governments have often used their funded (or partially funded) structures to address fiscal gaps. Now is a critical time to consider more broadly the problems affecting retirement income schemes for the formal sector. The two defined benefit programs in India and Pakistan, for example, have not yet matured. As time passes, future pension promises will become more deeply entrenched, making reform even more challenging. And as funded plans continue to grow, there is a risk of further misallocation of savings. Perhaps more important, there are encouraging signs of economic growth in the region and thus good possibilities for expanding the coverage of these programs. But even as a growing number of younger workers join the formal labor market and thus formal retirement schemes, urbanization is likely to weaken traditional informal arrangements for the elderly, including intra-family transfers. Strengthening retirement income schemes for the formal sector will help the region better prepare for the demographic change occurring over the next half century. This report seeks to provide a framework for improving the performance of pension schemes for the formal sector. After an introduction, Chapter 2 examines civil service pension schemes, chapter 3 focuses on mandatory private sector schemes, chapter 3 discusses the expansion of voluntary retirement savings arrangements, and chapter 5 is directed toward improving the business environment for retirement savings schemes. Chapter 6 presents conclusions.
  • Publication
    Bank Ownership and Performance in the Middle East and North Africa Region
    (2011-04-01) Farazi, Subika; Feyen, Erik; Rocha, Roberto
    Although both domestic and foreign private banks have gained ground in MENA in recent years, state banks continue to play an important role in many countries. Using a MENA bank-level panel dataset for the period 2001-08, the paper contributes to the empirical literature by documenting recent ownership trends and assessing the role of ownership and bank performance in MENA while accounting for key bank characteristics such as size and balance sheet composition. The paper analyzes headline performance indicators as well as their key drivers and finds that state banks exhibit significantly weaker performance, despite their larger size. This result is mainly driven by a larger holding of government securities, higher costs due to larger staffing numbers, and larger loan loss provisions reflecting weaker asset quality. The results reflect both operational inefficiencies and policy mandates. The paper also provides a detailed performance analysis of foreign and listed banks. Foreign banks are fairly new in MENA, yet perform on par with domestic banks despite their smaller size and higher investment costs. Listed banks exhibit superior performance driven by higher interest margins even in the face of higher costs associated with listing. Taken together, the results do not reject the development role for state banks, but do show that their intervention comes at a cost. As such, there is scope to reduce the share of state banks in some countries and to clarify the mandates, improve the governance, and strengthen the operational efficiency of most state banks in MENA.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    World Development Report 2006
    (Washington, DC, 2005) World Bank
    This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.
  • Publication
    Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21) Luna-Bazaldua, Diego; Levin, Victoria; Liberman, Julia; Gala, Priyal Mukesh
    This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.
  • Publication
    Morocco Economic Update, Winter 2025
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-03) World Bank
    Despite the drought causing a modest deceleration of overall GDP growth to 3.2 percent, the Moroccan economy has exhibited some encouraging trends in 2024. Non-agricultural growth has accelerated to an estimated 3.8 percent, driven by a revitalized industrial sector and a rebound in gross capital formation. Inflation has dropped below 1 percent, allowing Bank al-Maghrib to begin easing its monetary policy. While rural labor markets remain depressed, the economy has added close to 162,000 jobs in urban areas. Morocco’s external position remains strong overall, with a moderate current account deficit largely financed by growing foreign direct investment inflows, underpinned by solid investor confidence indicators. Despite significant spending pressures, the debt-to-GDP ratio is slowly declining.
  • Publication
    Argentina Country Climate and Development Report
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank Group
    The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.
  • Publication
    Digital Africa
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13) Begazo, Tania; Dutz, Mark Andrew; Blimpo, Moussa
    All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.