Problems manifested in the Croatian pension insurance system – also present in a similar way in a large number of other countries - are directly related to the aging of the population. Therefore, disturbing pressures on the budget are expected in the coming decades due to the needs of pension and health insurance, so fiscal needs need to be harmonised with fiscal possibilities.
As part of the pension system reform project, the following main parts were covered:
- the analysis of current and future socio-economic circumstances,
- description of the existing pension system, definition of the problems and proposed solutions,
- description of pension system financing,
- analysis of existing financial situation with overview of changes in the last ten years,
- description of demographic and economic preconditions needed for changes,
- demographic and financial projections in case of status quo,
- experience of pension reforms in selected countries with positive and negative consequences of particular measures,
- financial analysis of pension reform and assessment of financial consequences,
- closing remarks and conclusions (primarily pertaining to adequacy of proposed measures).
The aim of this project was to calculate the indicators in more detail, which could help us obtain more reliable data in the long term for setting realistic frameworks for the new pension system. An attempt was made to estimate the transaction costs, the cost of the pension system in Croatia in general, to study the consequences of the changes on certain age groups, as well as to cover largely unresolved issues in Croatia such as the disposal (keeping and fertilization) of collected funds, improving the collection and control of the collection of contributions, and the possibility of further burdening the state budget (calculations for each foreseen possibility, by amounts, years, etc.).