OECD Reviews of Pension Systems: Portugal
This review provides policy recommendations on how to improve the Portuguese pension system, building on the OECD’s best practices in pension design. It details the Portuguese pension system and identifies its strengths and weaknesses based on cross-country comparisons. The Portuguese pension system consists of an old-age safety net, a pay-as-you-go defined benefit scheme and voluntary private savings. The safety net includes an old-age social pension and a complement (the so-called Complemento Solidário para Idosos or CSI), both of which pursue similar objectives but have different eligibility criteria. The defined benefit scheme has two main components: the general social security scheme (regime geral da Segurança Social) and the civil-servant pension scheme (Caixa Geral de Aposentações or CGA). The latter has been closed to new entrants since 2006 with new civil servants contributing to the general scheme. Funded voluntary pensions make up a very small share of total pension entitlements. The OECD Reviews of Pension Systems: Portugal is the fourth in the series, after Ireland (2014), Mexico (2016) and Latvia (2018), with a fifth review on Peru under preparation.
Voluntary funded pension arrangements
This chapter examines Portugal’s voluntary funded pension system and proposes ways to improve it. It discusses the different aspects of public and private voluntary funded schemes such as coverage and contribution levels, tax, assets and investments, funding, withdrawals, and competition. The Portuguese voluntary funded pension system is evaluated against OECD international best practice. The last section provides guidelines on how to improve the voluntary funded pension system in Portugal.
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