 Tirana, March 4, 2008 – The World Bank together with the Ministry of Finance and the Albanian Institute of Social Insurance conducted a two-day workshop on Pension System in Albania. The workshop focused on the analysis of the current pension system in the country, comparing it with the region and successful models from other countries, as well as building a broad public consensus for strengthening the pension system.
This workshop targeted primarily policy makers and specialists from ministries and institutions in charge of social insurance issues, or related to it. Representatives and experts from the opposition actively participated and expressed their opinion regarding this important reform area.
Albania needs to gradually upgrade its pension system to meet the requirements of the emerging market economy. "In this situation, all experts, partners and other stakeholders in the country are convinced for the necessity of reforming the pension system in Albania," said the Minister of Finance Ridvan Bode.
Camille Nuamah, World Bank Country Manager stated emphasized the need for a broad consensus among all stakeholders and welcomed the opportunity to begin this discussion.
Presenting international experience in pension reform and labor costs, Anita Schwarz, Lead Economist, Human Development Sector Unit Europe and Central Asia Region from the World Bank showed that there are a variety of pension systems in place throughout the world, ranging from those which focus on lowering poverty among the elderly to those which focus on providing individual solution for saving for retirement. Four high officials from similar Central European countries (Bulgaria, Slovak Republic, Poland, and Kosovo) came and presented their experience with pension reform, both with regards to restructuring the public system so that benefits better link to contributions paid, by separating special privileges from the normal pension system, separating social assistance elements from the contributory social insurance system, and in introducing individual savings accounts.
Participants asked questions and discussed throughout, but the workshop ended with the Albanian participants beginning the discussion of what elements needed to be reformed in Albania and what examples could be taken from the other experiences.
The workshop was financed through the PHRD funds of Japanese Government Grant.
For more information, please read the study:
Albania: Social Insurance Review
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