Hundreds of thousands of Chileans took to the streets
throughout the country on Sunday, seeking to increase pressure on the
government to throw out Chile’s private pension system in favour of one that
would provide better benefits.
Under the current system, which was started in the 1980s
during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, six private pension funds, known
as AFPs, manage $160bn (£122bn) in assets. Opponents of Chile’s private pension
system say it forces workers to give their earnings to for-profit funds that do
not ensure a dignified old age for all Chileans. Protesters say some 10 million people who joined have now
been left with very low retirement incomes - less than minimum wage in many
cases, far less than the 70% of final salary originally intended.
The Chilean pension fund system has been praised by
pro- free market politicians and economists across the world.
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