The latest Financial Stability Report (FSR), published by the three financial market regulators - the Insurance and Social Welfare Supervisory Authority, Bank Al-Maghrib and the Moroccan Capital Market Authority - has again sounded the alarm and called for the acceleration of pension reform in Morocco.
The focus should shift to enacting reforms that will ensure the sustainability and resilience of the pension system for future generations, reported Morocco World, citing FSR.
The report underlined the precarious financial situation of the country’s major pension schemes. Despite recent reforms and adjustments, the report said that the financial health of these schemes remains under strain.
It pointed out that major Moroccan pension schemes, including the Moroccan Pension Fund, the Social Security Scheme, and the Collective Retirement Allowance Scheme, are grappling with financial difficulties. Although recent salary adjustments might slightly extend the lifespan of these pension reserves, they do not ensure long-term stability, the report said.
The general regime of the National Social Security Fund is also under pressure. Recent changes, reducing the minimum contribution period for pensions from 3,240 days to 1,320 days, are expected to accelerate the regime’s deficit and deplete its reserves more quickly than anticipated.
The report stressed the need for a major overhaul of the pension system through the creation of a dual-pillar system — public and private — as part of a broader strategy to address past liabilities and ensure long-term sustainability.
“This reform should enable the introduction of a pricing system for retirement schemes capable of addressing a significant portion of their uncovered past commitments,” the report said.
It added that these reforms were crucial for stabilising the pension system and securing future benefits. In addition, it stressed that implementing these changes will be essential to maintaining the financial health of Morocco’s pension schemes and meeting future obligations.
FSRs issued in previous years have sounded the urgency of pension reform.