Antigua and Barbuda Social Security at Risk Without Urgent Investment, Director Warns
The Director of the Social Security Board of Control, David Mathias, has warned that Antigua and Barbuda’s Social Security Fund could face a solvency crisis by 2030 unless urgent steps are taken to strengthen its investment portfolio.
Speaking in Parliament on Monday morning, Mathias said the Fund’s single fiduciary responsibility was to ensure its long-term solvency. He pointed to actuarial reports which show that at current contribution rates, the scheme will reach “forced equilibrium” within the next five years.
“By 2029, the latest 2030, if no further corrections are made, we are at a place where we will once again be forced to make another set of parametric changes,” he said.
Mathias argued that simply raising contribution rates or the pension age is not viable. He said he does not believe there is “economic space” for contribution rates beyond 20%, nor public appetite for a pension age above 67. Instead, he stressed the need for “greater return from our investment portfolio,” highlighting diversification and strategic alignment as critical.
Currently, Antigua and Barbuda has around 12,000 pensioners supported by just 47,000 contributors. Ideally, Mathias said, a viable system should have ten contributors for every pensioner — a gap that can only be bridged by significantly higher investment income.
“To cover the shortfall, you would need to generate returns closer to six percent, preferably ten,” he explained.
Mathias warned that without stronger investment returns, the Fund will struggle to cover pension payments, let alone operating costs, by 2030. “The need for this discussion is now,” he told MPs, urging that Social Security be treated as a national issue.
He also outlined the structural challenge facing the system: contributors’ lifetime payments are typically exhausted within two years of retirement, after which pensions must be funded by current workers. With birth rates in decline and net migration uncertain, he cautioned that the number of future contributors may not be enough to sustain the scheme.
“As I sit here today, I can say that by one o’clock this afternoon, pensions will be paid. I cannot say that will be the case in the next ten years if real effort is not made,” Mathias said.
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This presentation is false and naive.
It is making assumptions on data w is not available to the public
What is the population in gross figures
What are the age groups of the population
How many are leaving school on an annual basis
How many are going on to ASC and UWI or other institution of higher learning
How many are returning to the local workforce after college ETC ETC
Such granular information is needed and analyzed before the Director of Social Security can make any case for investing in Jolly Harbour Resort.
This is not about investing of social security funds it’s about what the actuarial analysis shows. Funds may very well need to be invested but his and where?
First the economy is lopsided. The GDP is a misguided figure.
Is this an independent voice? Is this a care of he who pays the piper call the tune? Or is it case of the puppet responding to the puppeteer’s string? I have the powers that be say…you either toe the line or get gone
I am 34 and would like to stop making contributions.
I have no confidence that this will turn around given our culture.
Investment in LIQUID assets is what is needed not no hard/fixed assets. These people really think we are naive. The sad thing though even if the government were to change these poops will still remain at the helm.
This presentation is based on bias data selection.
I hope there is someone in the UPP team to rubbish this presentation while they are in Parliament.
This information is only going in one direction, and there’s something really terribly wrong with the system that presents information of national significance that is not vetted.
This is a moment when true leaders in the UPP if there are any; raise the issue and encourage a change the system.
With bold leadership UPP in a position to fix it. They can create a lasting legacy by doing so rather than standing in the sun with placards.
Demand better data with integrity. That’s a leadership issue. Not visiting centurions.
It’s don’t take a lot to illustrate these poops are doing a bad job, at the expense of working people.
Who are the leaders in the UPP, with the knowledge and leadership make such a case without political blowback?
I’m among those who thinks we need a change.
Who is that person among UPP who can out craft a realistic vision and inspire the voting public?
Who?
You poopy-blotters that you are need to just shut up and calm down. You will challenge anything that didn’t come from your poopy sourcebook. I hope your poopy minds will remind you to acknowledge the wisdom and thank the Hon. Gaston Browne and ABLP when the redemption happens. The sad thing is that poopy does what poopy does.
A hah are you expect David Matthias to say? Think he can lose he marbles and opine anything else contrary to Gaston, that would a only happen if it’s a prominent white family been in that position that have white privilege to say as they please, once it’s a black man sitting in the highest office as judge or even prime minister ,he or she is told what to do by the power that be. Former slaves are excited to be accepted and validated by the system .
David Mathias say by 1pm we getting social security money and till now we don’t get any money him must stop tell lies
It’s all about construction and nothing else. He sees millions and he’s making his move. Max exposed them when he told us that when they went into office, Social Security was very solvent, to the extent that there was money all over the place and they borrowed and never repaid. He was subsequently retired under the guise of being ill. This organization is nothing short of being a cartel.
@ Eldread,
White privilege rules supreme in Antigua and Barbuda. A prime example is the largest contractor in Antigua and Barbuda who arrived on a boat penniless.
He is now Mr. Big Shot with all the luxury jobs from English Harbour and Jolly Habour to Palmetto and Coco Point.
White privilege has continued to exist in Antigua and Barbuda, and it’s in the DNA of the ALBP who thinks they are entitled.
It’s the underlying reason why ABLP treat our people like dogs with crab mentality.
David Matthias has no credibility whatsoever how can they put him in Parliament to present thst hog wash.
A man who has lied time and time again about timely Social Security payments is not the one to be placed before the public on this issue.
So Director Mathias, what is your fix? You paint a very dire picture of the SS outcome but you don’t have a fix. We need a Donald Trump style politician to make this right. I don’t see anybody in Govt that can fix this.
Whether or not Matthias should’ve addressed Parliament is a side issue. The real story is that we’re running out of time to fix Social Security. We can’t keep hiding behind procedural debates while the fund collapses.
47,000 contributors vs 12,000 pensioners is a red flag. We’ve been warned for years that the system was unsustainable, and now we’re staring down the barrel. Kudos to Matthias for speaking plainly, now let’s see if Parliament has the guts to act.
LOL
This whole fiasco about the Social Security Scheme is a welcome debate on how the Social Security Scheme is functioning and the tremendous misuse of the pensioners funds, by successive Antigua Labour Party Administrations.
We as pensioners are warned of the impending collapse of the Scheme in the next six years, to be exact.
This predicament of the Scheme insolvency has sent shockwave through the entire system.
It would appear as if nothing else can be done, unless the Government is prepared to inject massive amount of funds into the Social Security Scheme, on a continuous basis, to offset the over one billion dollars borrowed from the Scheme, by the Antigua Labour Party Administrations.
This ongoing Social Security Scheme insolvency issue is one that necessitates urgent & decisive action because it affects the entire nation of Antigua & Barbuda, both young & old alike, & to not start to address it now will only lead to the inevitable collapse of the fund, which will then multiply the already stringent financial restraints for those pensioners who rely heavily on receiving their monthly funds, & also deny future pensioners their just financial deserve from Social Security Scheme.
Notwithstanding all the funds that may have been illicitly withdrawn from the Social Security Scheme over the years, bad/inadequate investments etc., the fact is that we the people of the nation of Antigua & Barbuda are now faced with this financial haemorrhaging of the Social Security Scheme that we must put our heads together and address with the utmost urgency now, failing which interpolation strongly suggests that the funds of the Social Security Scheme will be exhausted in the next five (5) years, which is really just around the corner.
To say that we are not able to do anything further to revive the Social Security Scheme means that we the inhabitants of the nation of Antigua & Barbuda would have already failed, but where there is a will there is a way, one-one fill basket, & two heads beat better than one, & whilst I don’t proclaim to be a financial guru, I believe that the solution to resolving the Social Security Scheme insolvency issue is to take an incremental approach, as opposed to trying to solve it all at once, & I’m not referring to increasing the pension age even further, nor squeezing more contributions out of the people.
-Here is where the financial wizards come into play.Those privy to the confidential figures need to confer with each other, strategize as to how to put the Social Security Scheme on a solid financial footing say for the next seven to ten years. Establish a vision, & stick to it day in day out.
-Work along with gov’t officials to ascertain that ALL employers submit all contributions from their employees to the Social Security Scheme on a timely basis.
-Take an indepth look at the fixed asset portfolio of the Social Security Scheme to determine if there are any assets that can be either rented or sold to provide a huge capital injection.
-Tighten up on budget & tracking of expenses, and take action to reduce non-essential spending and eliminate inefficiencies.
-Put contingencies in place to help to mitigate any financial eventualities, be financially prudent, whilst simultaneously planning for the second 7-10 year period thereafter & so forth, until the Social Security Scheme has attained an ideal solvency ratio.
Implement the aforementioned points, which are not exhaustive, & I envision that we the people of the nation of Antigua & Barbuda will be reaping our benefits on a timely basis from the Social Security Scheme that are due and payable to us, God willing.
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