Interest on private pensions, the number of members this year reaches 38,000

Albanian citizens are increasingly preferring private pensions. The data of the Financial Supervision Authority show that during the January-September period of this year, more than 38 thousand members were registered in this scheme. The number of members has expanded by over 4% or 1483 members since the beginning of the year. In terms of value, the private pension scheme has captured a value of 6.48 billion lek or 60.80 million euros. If we compare it with a year ago, there is an increase of about 26% in the value of private pension assets. But despite this trend, the participation of Albanian citizens in the private pension scheme is still estimated to be low. Currently, less than 3% of the workforce is in this scheme. If private pensions were more developed, this would ease the burden of the public scheme. In order to promote this scheme, the Financial Supervision Authority has undertaken some legal changes aimed at promoting this scheme, interventions aimed at reducing fees in cases where the fund is withdrawn in installments. The private pension scheme remains unknown to the general population, but it offers an opportunity for real pension growth, from the point of view of income. If a person has closed money in the private pension scheme, the invested money is not lost, it is inherited by the descendants, unlike the state pension which ceases to exist when the pensioner dies. Private pensions are a social scheme operating in Albania for 17 years and there are 4 private pension funds in the country. As for the number of people in the private pension scheme for 2022, they were 36.5 thousand, while January-September 2023 are about 38 thousand.