Zimbabwe pensions update
Sunday, August 16th, 2009The Zimbabwe government’s revised budget of US$1.22 billion, announced in mid-July, makes no mention of pensions. However, Government pensioners resident in Zimbabwe are receiving an “allowance” of between US$30 and US$48 per month to tide them over. Some non-resident Government pensioners have arranged with the Pensions Office to have their allowance paid into a FCA bank account in Zimbabwe. The Pensions Office will not remit funds outside Zimbabwe at present. Enquiries may be addressed to the Director of Pensions, PO Box CY397, Causeway, Zimbabwe.
On a brighter note, the Communication and Allied Industries Pension Fund (CAIPF) recommenced pension payments to non-resident pensioners (including those who were employed by the PTC) in June 2009. Pensioners are required to first submit a Certificate of Life, after which an interim monthly amount of US$30 would be paid quarterly in arrears, effective from 1 February 2009. Enquiries can be made to payments@caipensions.co.zw.
The Mining Industry Pension Fund (MIPF) has instituted a similar arrangement, having sent cheques for as much as US$90 to members in June/July this year.
Pencare, the Old Mutual Pensions Fund, also began payment of pensions in June, for members who had opened a Foreign Currency Account with a bank in Zimbabwe. The non-resident pensioner then has to make arrangements with the bank to transfer the funds, at considerable cost in bank charges. OM sent the following message to one of our members. Make sense of it, if you can:
“… please note that before the multi-currency system was introduced, Old Mutual had no license to transact its business in forex. All transactions were being done in Zimbabwean dollars. As such the conversion was based on the asset values of the pension funds (as at the date of conversion), which had been recapitalised using our investment portfolios, including properties. The calculations had to take into account the actual cash in US dollars for disbursement, as we were trying to establish US dollar values for benefits which had been built up in Zim dollars. The pensions would have accumulated to substantial amounts had our financial transactions continued in Zimbabwe dollars. As a result of this, the figures did not come out as anticipated by the pensioners.”