Argentina: Protect Older People´s Pension
In March 2023, the National Congress passed Law 27705 establishing a payment plan for social security debts (pension moratoriums) for two years as a public policy to guarantee access to retirement for people who do not have 30 years of contributions. Their objective was to repair situations of inequality in the face of informal labor in a country in which more than 47% of the market is carried out without contributions or registration. The moratorium, which would expire on 23 March 2025, allows a person who has not been able to contribute during his/her life to access pensions while also paying in to cover the gap in contributions.
The national government announced that it will not seek to extend this deadline in the context of a fiscal adjustment plan that has especially impacted the pensions of older people.
If the pension moratorium is not extended or replaced by an alternative system, those who do not meet the requirements for retirement will only have access to the Universal Pension for Older People (PUAM), which is 80% of the minimum retirement pension. In February 2025, the amount of PUAM was set at $218.000/$181 dollars, and the minimum retirement pension at $273.000 /$227 dollars, amounts far from the necessary income to avoid poverty according to INDEC (National Institute of Statisticians and Census) which is $334.000/$278 dollars. Those who receive the minimum retirement pension are well below the poverty line. If the period of the Law is not extended, most future retirees, both men and women, will receive even less.
Even though this will have an impact on all those who do not have sufficient contributions due to informality and/or specific personal trajectories, it will have a disproportionate impact on women as they have higher rates of informality than men. We suggest consulting National Directorate for Gender and Stadistics (2022, published March 2023)
Argentina has been facing an economic and social crisis for several years. Argentina has borrowed from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), through the largest loan ever granted by the international financial institution. The IMF has included, among the conditionalities for Argentina, the achievement of a “zero deficit”. Since the inauguration of the current government, this objective has been reflected in the adoption of strong fiscal adjustment and austerity measures. In its latest report on the country, the IMF has pointed out the additional cost to GDP of the pension moratorium, while calling for the protection of the most vulnerable.
The fall in pensions was one of the main drivers of the fiscal adjustment carried out by the current government. According to the Argentine Institute of Fiscal Analysis (IARAF), the total reduction of the national public administration's primary expenditure during the first two months of 2024 (Argentine pesos $ 3,869,000 million) was 43% ($ 1,682,000 million) explained by the reduction of expenditure on pensions and retirement, which was 33% compared to the first two months of 2023.
Every Wednesday older people protest in the so-called “March of the Retired”, some of these mobilizations had been repressed; the demonstrations of the last four Wednesdays have been repressed. Amnesty International documented older people beaten and repressed with batons and gas by the police.