IMF insists on pension cuts – Morning Post

IMF insists on pension cuts – Morning Post

Institution says that we need to reduce more civil servants.

 By Miguel Alexandre Ganhão, Peter H. Gonçalves

You need to cut more in pensions?

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that austerity in Portugal is not over. It is urgent to cut more in pensions, especially among retirees of the General Retirement Fund (CGA) that, according to that institution, “receive disproportionately high pensions for pensioners of Social Security.”

In the report of the first post-troika evaluation, the fund argues that the government should postpone the most of the replacement of wages in the public sector. Criticizing the end Solidarity Extraordinary Contribution (CES), applied to pensioners, the institution calls for “ambition” to make a structural reform of social security systems.

In a press conference from Washington, the head of the IMF mission to Portugal, Up Lall also asked easier to fire in Portugal. In the Fund’s report, technicians still criticize the increase in the minimum wage of 485 to 505 euros, arguing that this would have perverse effects, creating more unemployment.

About the fact that the Constitutional Court has leaded several measures related to pensions, the IMF says that “there is a 2016 window of opportunity for structural reform.”

In the Civil Service, the IMF also calls “more ambitious reduction savings or elimination of salary supplements” and more outlets, either friendly or terminations for redevelopment. Up Lall said that the current “political cycle is not indifferent to the IMF assessment,” adding “it is difficult to make structural reforms in a year that take place legislative elections.”

You need to cut more in pensions?

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