The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean report says extreme events worsened the impact of COVID.
Mario Cimoli, the organization’s Acting Executive Secretary, and Arnoldo André Tinoco, the Foreign Minister of Costa Rica, participated in a meeting of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development 2022, focused on listening to messages from the regions. Prior to that, both authorities spoke at a virtual side event on Development in Transition.
Ah, my young and fabulous friends, it is wonderful that you can enjoy those expensive fashions and parties now, but, even as I write, the stress on our National Insurance Scheme (NIS) is increasin.
It is estimated that in the next 28 years about half of Barbados’ population will be over the age of 65, and one development management specialist is warning that this could be devastating for the economy and its pension scheme. Also worrying she said, is the fact that non communicable diseases could potentially remove people from among the workforce earlier than anticipated.Diane Quarless, Director at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), said it was critical for government to put measures in place to ensure its national insurance scheme will be able to meet the demands at that time, as contributions are expected to dip.Quarless is also urging Barbados and other regional economies to pay closer attention to the health of their population if they are requiring them to retire at a later age.“If we are talking about extending working life – and I think Barbados is at the highest at about age 67, and more and more of the countries are moving up from 60
Barbadians and other Caribbean nationals could face having to pay higher pension contributions and receive reduced pension if drastic reforms are not urgently implemented to the region’s national security schemes to solve the issue of an ageing population and lower birth rates.This was one of the observations coming out of the Caribbean Economic Forum on Thursday evening, hosted by the Central Bank of Barbados on the topic “Solving the Ageing Population Crisis in the Caribbean”.Derek Osborne, Partner and Senior Actuary at LifeWorks in the Bahamas, said while some countries such as Barbados and St Lucia have already taken steps to reform their pension schemes, the region was already generally facing a pension scheme crisis.