Pensions and Pension Reform in Georgia

Abstract

This paper considers ways in which pensions and their reforms could impact the future economic development of Georgia. It describes the existing pension structure and how this could be built upon to develop a new structure that would both improve the financial position of the current and future elderly and provide a means to achieve broader economic growth. As such, it considers what might be viewed as the normal parameters: the country’s demographics, the cost of pensions and their distribution, and how the present and evolving future structure might resemble the World Bank’s multi-pillar approach. It also considers how pensions fit in with society and how an occupational savings system, such as pensions, can play a role in economic development, following a program of pension reform that goes beyond the normal quandary of how a country can afford pensions. It then makes recommendations for discussion on pension reform in Georgia and how it could achieve these goals.