Hungary Moves to Strip Fund Members of State Pensions

Hungary will strip private pension fund members of their state pensions unless they move retirement savings back to the government-run program, Economy Minister Gyorgy Matolcsy said today in Budapest.

The directive is part of the government’s effort to do away with the mandatory private pension system and move 3 trillion forint ($14.6 billion) of assets managed by the funds into the state budget to reduce public debt. Hungary has since 1998 had private funds that manage employees’ mandatory pension contributions, as well as the state-run system.