The Ivorian government announced on April 4 the establishment of a supplementary funded pension plan for the benefit of civil servants and agents of the State.
The funded pension plan gradually builds up capital (subsidized at the end of the year by interest), which is then paid back in various ways at the time of retirement. According to Bruno Koné, the government spokesperson, the resources can be returned to civil servants at the time of retirement either in full, or month after month.
The measure is adopted as part of the pension reform and the National Social Protection Strategy aimed at improving the income level of retired civil servants who are generally faced with a deterioration in life.
Until now, civil servants and agents of the Ivorian state were only entitled to a single pay-as-you-go scheme. This system, which places the burden of pensions mainly on serving civil servants, was facing a structural imbalance. A situation that had led the authorities to initiate a series of reforms since 2012, including the increase in contributions and the retirement age.
The government will engage in a “social dialogue” with the social partners “with a view to defining, in a consensual manner, the main features of this system and the conditions for its implementation”, without however pronouncing on the obligatory or optional nature of this supplementary scheme.
It should be noted that the IPS-CGRAE, the general pension fund of the Ivorian State agents, which conducts this reform has been associated, since July 2017, the expertise of the consulting group FINACTU.
