Stiff words from BPI President Fernando Ulrich this week: it’s a mistake to believe social security payments will guarantee a pension.
Speaking at a reunion dinner at the Catholic University of Porto, Ulrich said there was no mechanism to establish a link between what taxpayers paid in contributions and what they would receive on retirement.
“How much is the debt?” He queried in his speech. “The responsibility that social security has is to pay pensions as they are set out in the law that exists. Another level on which this reveals itself is the (payment) amounts that are assumed by people. What is important is that people are aware that there is no economic or financial mechanism that assures that for having made a certain payment, a person will receive a certain contribution in the future. This doesn’t exist”.
