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Keywords

ageing; demographics; equity; pensions; pension reform; fiscal policy; sustainability

Abstract

Reform of Lebanon’s pension system is indispensable. The country already faces fiscal sustainability risks, which will be compounded in the future by significantly higher pension- related spending and liabilities, mainly reflecting adverse demographics. In addition to sustainability issues, the pension system also suffers from equity shortcomings – Lebanon is the only MENA country that does not offer social security for retirees in the private sector. While several reform proposals have been formulated since the early 2000s, none has been implemented to date. Costs mount with every year of delay, so action is required soon to address these challenges.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express gratitude to Annalisa Fedelino for encouragement and detailed comments. Special thanks go to Mauricio Soto for providing conceptual advice and the framework for the analysis. The authors would also like to thank David Amaglobeli, Alain Bifani, Csaba Feher, Adnan Mazarei, Paulo Medas, Montserrat Pallares-Miralles, Andrew Tiffin, and the country team members for useful comments and discussions. The authors would also like to acknowledge the helpful comments provided by Mounir Rached and the teams of the Ministry of Finance and the Banque du Liban. Jonah Rosenthal provided excellent research assistance. Cecilia Pineda and Vanessa Panaligan provided excellent editorial and administrative support. Any remaining errors are our own. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management. An earlier version of the paper was published by Jarmuzek and Nakhle as an IMF Working Paper (2016).

First Page

52

Last Page

66

Page Count

15

Received Date

26 February 2018

Revised Date

7 August 2018

Accept Date

6 September 2018

Online Available Date

17 September 2018

DOI

10.7172/2353-6845.jbfe.2018.2.3

JEL Code

E62; H55; J11

Publisher

University of Warsaw

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