Morocco’s Aging Population Strains Pension System as Demographic Shift Accelerates

According to the High Commission for Planning (HCP) and financial institutions such as BAM, the Acaps and the AMMC, in a study on the effects of the aging of the Moroccan population and the financial situation of the pension system, the Moroccan demographic ratio generates an imbalance between expenditure and resources of the various schemes, reports Aujourd’hui le Maroc.

In its projections, the Center for Demographic Studies and Research under the HCP, indicated that the percentage of these elderly people would rise to 25% in 2050, with 37% affected by disabilities and incapacities. A situation that will inevitably have a significant impact on pension schemes and health expenditure, the center specifies.

For their part, Bank Al-Maghrib, the Acaps and the AMMC revealed in a recent report on financial stability that the various pension schemes are experiencing various fortunes. Indeed, the general scheme of the RCAR recorded an increase of 13.1% compared to 2019 against a variation of the benefits of 6.6% which allowed a slight improvement of the technical balance of the scheme to stand at -2.6 billion dirhams against -2.7 billion a year earlier. The overall balance standing at 2.5 billion dirhams against 1.7 billion in 2019.

As for the CNSS, the contributions of the retirement branch recorded a decrease of 6.1% compared to 2019. The technical and global balances of the branch have deteriorated compared to their 2019 levels to stand respectively at 173 million and 1.8 billion DH.

On the other hand, it is the status quo at the CIMR which has recorded the same technical balance since 2019 under the effect of a deceleration of the contributions of the scheme compared to the previous exercises caused by that of the number of contributing active members and the drop in the level of their declared wages.

In conclusion, the pension schemes collected, in 2020, 50.8 billion dirhams in contributions, a figure up 3.8% compared to 2019. The benefits, on the other hand, amounted to 57.6 billion dirhams, up 10.6%. The reserves built up by these schemes increased by 1.9% compared to 2019 to stand at 326.6 billion dirhams, the financial institutions point out.