Chilean MPs rejected the new withdrawal of 10% of pension funds

The Chilean Chamber of Deputies rejected on Monday a bill that proposed allowing a new universal withdrawal of 10% of individual pension accounts, an initiative that generated great controversy due to the acute inflation that the country is going through.

With 70 votes in favor (out of 93 required), 70 against and 12 abstentions, the plenary dismissed the idea of continuing to discuss a proposal that was proposed as a way to help the nicked family economies after the pandemic and which the Government had rejected head-on.

Also rejected by 68 votes in favor (out of 78 required), 83 against and one abstention an alternative project of the Executive that proposed a withdrawal of 10% of savings limited and only under three conditions: for the payment of debts, alimony or first home.

After the vote, the deputy for Renewal Nacional (RN), Jorge Durán, said that the government will have to take “responsibility” for what happened and demanded a reform “that will really help advance the Chilean pension system.”

During the session, Chilean MP Carlos Bianchi assured that the Chilean government, led by Gabriel Boric, had won the votes necessary to carry out the limited withdrawal in a debate that lasted until midnight and that it has finally rejected both measures.

“I am learning that apparently the Government has just won the votes necessary to approve its project and they are reaching a final agreement between the Government, the Broad Front, the Socialist Party and some other sectors with the Independent Democratic Union and some other votes from the right,” he said, as the newspaper has collected 'The Third'.

In an attempt to stop the withdrawal of 10 percent of the provisional funds from the system of Pension Fund Administrators (AFP), the country's private pension system, different Chilean ministers of the Boric Executive last week presented an alternative to retirement limited with a social security criterion.

This initiative provided for exceptions in which the withdrawal of 10 per cent of AFP funds is authorized, such as in the payment of alimony, the payment of health debts or dividends for first home.

Chilean government spokeswoman Camila Vallejo said earlier at the beginning of the debate of the fifth recall that inflation is “a reality” and that it must be combated. “We cannot be passive agents of inflation,” he said, as recorded by the Chilean network T13.

“This is being seen at fairs, in supermarkets, this is hitting women, working families in Chile and, therefore, we have to fight and stop it and that is why we are proposing this alternative measure,” he said, adding that “responsibility” is necessary to combat inflation.

The draft of the fifth withdrawal of 10 per cent of AFP funds, as explained by T13, will be shelved and, in addition, a ban on legislating a bill with the same characteristics will be decreed for one year.

(With information from EFE and Europa Press)

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