Asofondos believes Petro is uninformed about pension fund proposal

The Colombian Association of Administrators of Pension and Unemployment Funds (Asofondos) responded on Tuesday with a harsh statement to some statements of the presidential candidate of the Historical Pact, Gustavo Petro, about the private pension system in the debate it gave on March 14.

First, they made a general appeal to all aspirants to “give a rigorous, responsible, informed discussion, and above all thinking about the welfare of workers”, so as to avoid lies and inaccuracies about how the individual savings scheme with solidarity (RAIS) works.

They then referred to Petro's claims. The guild extended a categorical rejection and listed statements that they consider to be inrigorous and dangerous.

The first statement is that “pension contributions in pension funds are public”, but they point out that they are “owned by workers, by no one else”. To affirm this, they point to article 13 of Law 100. The same response Asofondos gave to the accusation “And the owners of pension funds have not looted the State?”

Article 13 states:

Petro also spoke of the RAIS' money going to Odebrecht and the Chirajara bridge. Asofondos says there was never any investment with the Brazilian construction company, that there was investment in the Vía al Llano and that it sold its stake four years before the bridge collapsed.

Another statement says that contributions are “managed at the 30% they collect in a bank.” According to Asofondos, the commissions are the same in the RAIS and in the medium premium regime (RPM), managed by the state-owned Colpensiones. “In both cases, 3% are charged, as stipulated in article 7 of Law 797 of 2003. As a percentage of the managed balance, commissions are 0.6%.”

To that counterresponse, Petro wrote this on his Twitter account:

Petro's third statement in the debate stated that “22% of the last salary of what that contributor earned is what he receives in a private pension fund.” Asofondos replied that, in fact, eight out of ten pensioners in the RAIS receive 80 per cent of the last salary received, while those with minimum pensions receive 100 per cent.

In another statement, Petro said that private pension funds do not provide pensions, but Asofondos says that RAIS pensioners are growing at a rate of 20% per year, while the public system grows by 4%.

Finally, on transferring all RAIS to Colpensiones to release 18 billion pesos a year, Asofondos accused an attempt to expropriate pension savings and spend the money of those who will be pensioned decades later.

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