The pensions funds in Zimbabwe had total assets amounting to $4,03 billion as at December 31, 2017.

CONTRIBUTION arrears to pension funds have reached $600 million, the Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC) disclosed on Tuesday.
IPEC head of pensions Josphat Kakwere said the arrears had reached $600 million as at December, 2017.
“Contribution arrears amounted to $600,31 million as at 31 December 2017, accounting for 14,89 percent of total assets as at that date,” Kakwere said while speaking at an Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe/IPEC seminar on Tuesday.
Zimbabwe’s pension industry consists of four pension schemes, namely government pensions, the National Social Security Authority, occupational private schemes and annuities purchased from life companies. The pensions funds in Zimbabwe had total assets amounting to $4,03 billion as at December 31, 2017 attributable to a total of 578 801 members, representing less than 10 percent of Zimbabwe’s estimated working population of $8,6 million.
Kakwere told The Financial Gazette that the trend of increasing contribution arrears was an offshoot of the country’s economic crisis.
“The trend emanates from the economic situation in the country which has made it difficult for companies to make pension contributions to various funds,” he said.
The regulator says it has received multiple complaints from members of pension funds that fail to get benefits from their pensions as a result of non-remittance of contributions by their employers. Kakwere said in some cases this happened to members who would have had contributions deducted from their salaries.
“We have been having people coming to us and saying I have been contributing for years, but I have not got anything from the fund, then we go to the administrator who then tells us that they did not receive any contributions from the employer, but all the while, the money was being deducted from the salary and some will even bring proof of the deductions. But the pension administrator is unable to pay because nothing would have been contributed,” Kakwere said.
“This is one reason why the IPEC is on this national public awareness campaign, one of the things that we have been teaching members of pensions is that they should be aware know if the deductions from their salaries are being contributed to the fund or not,” said Kakwere who added that the pensions industry’s problems, which include the situation with the contribution arrears, calls for industry reforms.
“There is need for reforms within the industry, these will address not only the issue of contribution arrears but some of the weaknesses within the industry, we are talking of issues to do with high expense ratios, you are talking of the architecture of the whole industry itself, is it the ideal industry which we want to see or can there be other initiatives which will then create a broader coverage of the pension schemes. We think that the pensions industry should be more inclusive and that there should be some consolidation or amalgamating of pension funds so that they can enjoy economies of scale,” said Kakwere.
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