The Chilean Congress He gave his final approval to a reform that will increase the pensions of current and future retireesgiving President Gabriel Boric a bittersweet victory after important concessions of his government.
The lower house of the Congress supported the legislation on Wednesday after the Senate gave its approval by general voting and point by point on Tuesday morning. The approval occurred after a marathon of conversations between legislators and the government about the content of the bill and their financing.
The reform represents the best attempt to reach an intermediate point in which it is probably the most controversial problem that affects Chile. There is no doubt that the current system harms women often leaves retirees in general living in poverty or having to find other sources of income in old age. Meanwhile, private pension funds, known as AFP, are the cornerstone of local capital markets, which means that any legal reform runs the risk of irritating investors.
“I want to highlight the will to negotiate. This would never have come to light if everyone had remained firm in their original positions, ”Boric told journalists on Thursday morning. “This is a triumph of Chileans.”
Chilean legislators kept the AFPs, which made many happy in the center -right and in the business communitybut frustrated Boric and his allies. In addition, AFPs will be in charge of administering the new contributions of employers to individual workers’ pension accounts, which are equivalent to 4.5% of wages.
“Consolidating a system that promised to eliminate is not a good legacy,” said Deputy Marcos Ilabaca, of the CentroIl left Socialist Party, in Boric reference during a local radio interview on Wednesday morning. “It is a lack of truth.”
