Ageing society putting stress on Social Security Fund

Ageing society putting stress on Social Security Fund

Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, centre, meets executives of the Finance Ministry on Wednesday. (Photo by Pattarachai Preechapanich)
Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, centre, meets executives of the Finance Ministry on Wednesday. (Photo by Pattarachai Preechapanich)

Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak has questioned how the government's Social Security Fund can afford to pay pensions for 11.5 million ageing members in the near future, and has instructed the Finance Ministry to examine the problem.

He told senior ministry executives on Wednesday the Finance Ministry and the Labour Ministry would have to study the future of the fund because Thailand would become an ageing society in the near future.

Officials would have to find out how the fund could afford to pay pensions to 11.5 million elderly members with its income based on contributions from working members, the government and returns on its investment.

There was also the question if investment by the Social Security Fund was too conservative, Mr Somkid said.

The deputy prime minister said that it would seek cabinet approval in a few weeks for a national pension fund, under which all companies must set up provident funds for their employees.

In the second quarter of this year, the membership of the Social Security Fund stood at 12.59 million with about 433,000 employers. The fund amounted to 1.47 trillion baht comprising 1.03 trillion baht from contributions by employers and workers and 439 billion baht from returns on investment.

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