One economist is blaming the former Freundel Stuart and current Mia Mottley administrations for the crisis facing the island’s pension scheme, chiding them for not carrying out needed reforms and hence contributing to the impairment of the fund.Barbados-born economist Carlos Forte, who is based in Canada, said the NIS board did not set social security policy and therefore any attempt by anyone to blame the former or current NIS boards for the “pending pension crisis” was nothing but “a smoke screen and a diversion”.“The Stuart administration and the Mottley administration are responsible for the pending NIS crisis. Of course, the economic stagnation over the past 13 years, the population and age-demographic issues are also major contributing factors,” said Forte.The economist, who also offered suggestions for better management of the scheme, argued that there was a need since 2016, to undertake some reforms of the NIS, an issue which was previously pointed out in actuarial reviews.“Regrettably, apart from the government of the day opting not to tweak the fund at that time to extend its projected sustainability, it impaired the fund by deliberately accumulating arrears of employer contributions that it was legally obligated to pay,” he said.
