MALAYSIA: Population of Elderly To Double By 2020

KUALA LUMPUR (Xinhua - ChinaView), November 26, 2007: Malaysia's elderly population is expected to double by 2020 and the country could not be spared from this worldwide phenomenon, an official said here Monday. "The proportion of Malaysians aged above 60 is expected to be more than doubled from 7 percent of the total population in 2000 to 16 percent in 2020," said Zamani Abdul Ghani, deputy governor of Malysia's central bank Negara Malaysia. By 2040, one-fifth of Malaysia's population is expected to be more than 60 years old, while the World Bank predicted that the number of the elderly in the world will surpass the number of children by that time, Zamani told the Fourth Asian Conference on Pensions and Retirement Planning. He called for reformulating retirement strategies, reforming pension schemes, designing an appropriate tax mechanism for pension system, while urging the public to raise their awareness on planning for retirement. The structure of mandatory pension schemes, many of which were based on a full-time employment model, had to be modified according to the changing work patterns, Zamani said. The increasing number of part-time workers, the self-employed and temporary workers had been seen in recent decades, he said. An appropriate tax mechanism for pension system should also be designed and implemented to encourage greater retirement savings and the role of the government should be re-emphasized in this regard, he said. The insurance of long-term bonds could be a good practice in helping mitigate risks associated with the duration gaps of asset against liability, inflation and longevity risks, he said. A suitable policy framework should be created to provide incentives for more stable long term savings that could negate the effects of reducing living standards after retirement, he said. Editor: Bi Mingxin www.chinaview.cn