Spending watchdog says pensions system unsustainable

The state’s spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, has raised the alarm about what it describes as the non-sustainable deficit being run up by Czech state pensions systems. It pointed out that the overall deficit ballooned by 12 percent between 2009 and 2013. A reserve created in 1995 to cover spending shortfalls which now stands at 22.6 billion crowns should be twice as high, it added. More and longer living pensioners as well as automatic increases in pensions are at the root of the shortfall in funds, the office says.

Author: Chris Johnstone