Call for Revamping Pension Funds

Widespread protests by retirees across the country over their meager pension benefits and the fact that under the 2022-23 budget bill, one-third of the government’s operational budget is to be spent on addressing pension funds’ deficits indicate that the country’s social security system is not working properly and needs to be revamped. 
A government that has no option but to spend 50% of its budget on pension funds should normally be interested in finding a long-term solution to this problem, said veteran economist, Hossein Abdoh-Tabrizi, in an article for the Persian economic daily, Donya-e-Eqtesad. A translation of the text follows: 
In addition to poor performance, demographic changes and the rise in life expectancy are other fundamental problems facing pension funds. Over the past few years, the number of jobs created was barely sufficient to provide new investments by new workers in pension funds and resolve the funds’ deficit, at least for a short time.