ANSES
Encyclopedia
ANSES is a decentralized Argentine Government social insurance
agency managed under the aegis of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. The agency is the principal administrator of social security
and other social benefits in Argentina, including family and childhood subsidies, and unemployment insurance.
s (5 million) receive ANSES pensions, whose amount is adjusted semi-annually. Argentines in the labor force earning less than 4,800 pesos
(us$1,200) monthly, are entitled to benefits upon marriage; pregnancy, birth, or adoption of a child; for maternity leave or prenatal care
; and for a disability
in a child or spouse, as well as to a modest unemployment insurance benefit for up to 6 months. The most important poverty relief program administered by the ANSES is the Asignación Universal por Hijo (Universal Childhood Entitlement). The benefit, 220 pesos (us$55) a month per child, is assigned to 3.6 million children under age 18 (30% of the nation's total), and includes the deposit of 20% of the check in a savings account
accessible only upon certification of the child's enrollment in school
. The program was budgeted at around us$2.5 billion for 2011 (6% of the total). Another recent program is Conectar Igualdad, which envisaged the purchase of 3 million netbook
s for secondary school students and teachers.
The ANSES is funded by both employee contributions
and payroll tax
es (56%), as well as by a share of value added
and other tax receipts (22%), contributions from the national budget (17%), and interest
receipts (4%). Expenses include social security
payments (63%), transfers to provincial and other pension funds (20%), family assistance (12%), and the netbook program (2%); administrative expenses were around 2%. The agency maintains a stabilization fund
, the Sustainability Guarantee Fund (FGS), which held approximately us$45 billion in a variety of financial instruments as of February 2011, of which 54% was held in government securities and 12.5% in the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange
.
The ANSES issues a Código Único de Identificación Laboral (Labor Identification Code) to all registered workers covered under the Public Pension System (SIJP).
, enacted bereavement benefit
s for widows and orphans of Navy
personnel. These benefits would later be extended to veteran
s of the Argentine War of Independence
and later conflicts. Mutual aid societies that provided disability and pension benefits to members were established throughout the nineteenth century by guild
s, as well as by immigrant associations; these latter included Unione e Benevolenza
and the Asociación Española de Socorros Mutuos
.
The first official social security system in Argentina was established by Law 4.349, signed by President Julio Roca in 1904. The act, one of the first of its kind in Latin America
, provided retirement and disability benefits to government employees and created the Civil Retirement and Pension Fund, enrollment in which was voluntary.
President Hipólito Yrigoyen
, elected in 1916, pursued the extension of these benefits to workers in other sectors. Retirement funds were thus established for railroad
employees in 1921; for those in public services in 1922; and for banking and insurance employees in 1923. He failed, however, to do likewise for retail workers, whose employers staged a lockout
, and succeeded in scuttling the reform. The great depression
seriously weakened these funds, and the Civil Service Fund alone suffered a deficit of over twenty times its reserve by 1931. The increase in deductions and subsequent economic recovery allowed further expansion of pension coverage, with funds established in 1939 for port
and newspaper employees.
, chief counsel for the Unión Ferroviaria (at the time the most important union in the CGT
), and by Labor Secretary Juan Perón
, promoted the Labor Department to a cabinet level post and, in 1944, established the National Institute for Social Insurance (INPS). The INPS converted the voluntary pension funds, which covered 3% of the total population, into a compulsory system for all employees, effective January 1, 1945, and thus became the first universal social insurance system in Argentina. Perón, elected President in 1946, had retirement and disability benefits included in the Workers' Bill of Rights, enacted on February 24, 1947; this Bill of Rights was subsequently incorporated into the 1949 Constitution as Article 14-b. The self-employed, who account for a fourth of the nation's work force, were incorporated into the Independent Workers' Scheme in 1955. The INPS replaced the former guild funds' capitalization
financing for a PAYGO
system, and by 1955, would cover 80% of the population. Participation rates in social security among the self-employed would remain among the lowest, however, and the majority evaded the system in subsequent decades.
Following President Perón's 1955 overthrow, the 1949 Constitution was rescinded. Article 14-b, however, was reaffirmed by the 1957 Assembly
, thus endorsing the continuity of the social security system, among other social and labor law reforms, with the support of most of the nation's political spectrum. A new payments indexation
system was enacted by President Arturo Frondizi
in 1958. Minimum monthly pensions were set that ranged from 70% (for those retiring at age 60) to 82% (at age 65) of a contributor's real average earnings during the best three years from the last 10 years of employment. This schedule, popularly known in Argentina as the 82% móvil, led to deficits in the INPS by 1962, and to the reduction of payments to below the 82% ratio; resulting lawsuits were curtailed by a 1967 order. The myriad funds in the INPS were reorganized in 1968 into a National Pension System (NPS) with three general funds for private and public employees and the self-employed, respectively. Each of the nation's provinces
also maintained pension funds for local and provincial government staff. The 82% ratio was limited to those who contributed for at least 30 years, and in 1973, the latter stipulation was dropped with the caveat that the pension-income ratio would be 70%.
The system's principal weakness became the chronically high rates of evasion by contributors. Participation never exceeded half the estimated work force, and those who contributed typically under-reported income; among the self-employed, evasion rates rose to around two-thirds. The system's finances, nevertheless, remained nearly balanced as late as 1978. The dictatorship
in power at the time enacted changes that adversely impacted the pension system, however. Indexation of payments was slowed in 1979 to rates well below inflation, and monthly pensions, which remained at 65% of each worker's reported pre-retirement income in 1978, fell to 40% by 1980. The system's revenue framework was also affected by the replacement of employer contributions (15% of employees' wages) for an earmarked share of the value added tax
(which was raised). The NPS would be further strained by the 1981 collapse of Economy Minister José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz
's policies of financial deregulation
. Compliance eroded and with it, the real value of pensions which, by 1987, had fallen to 25% of pre-retirement income. A wave of lawsuits against the NPS thus followed, and in 1986, President Raúl Alfonsín
ordered an injunction
against further liens on NPS accounts.
The NPS was officially superseded in 1990 by the INPS, an interim agency during whose tenure a two-tier system
was established and the three funds operated by the NPS were merged. These changes were adopted, with modifications, in the establishment of the ANSES on December 27, 1992, through Decree 2741/91 signed by President Carlos Menem
.
computer system installed in the antiquated agency between 1991 and 1994. Debts stemming from lawsuits filed from 1987 onward were settled in 1993 with government bond
s and funds obtained from the privatization
of the state oil concern, YPF. Cisilino stepped down in 1995, and was succeeded as director by Alejandro Bramer Markovic. Bramer Markovic, who was also named Director of PAMI
(the national public health insurance system for the elderly and disabled), inherited yawning deficits at ANSES, which reached us$2.8 billion in the first half of 1996.
These were exacerbated by numerous factors, including the 1995 recession, and a portfolio of up to 300,000 fraudulent pensions
estimated to cost ANSES nearly a billion dollars annually. The most pervasive challenge to the 20 billion-dollar agency's finances, however, resulted from the 1994 introduction of private pension fund
s (AFJP), whose enrollees were barred from returning to the ANSES system. He reduced benefit abuse and had charges filed against Cisilino for the no bid IBM contracts, which later resulted in the latter's indictment for fraud
. Bramer Markovic, however, was an outsider to President Menem's political circle, and was replaced in January 1998 by Saúl Bouer, a former Mayor of Buenos Aires. Bouer, like his predecessor, faced an ongoing wave of lawsuits filed by those contesting their pension determination, which averaged us$300 a month. Bouer advocated a greater willingness to settle
with plaintiffs, as well as an increase in the us$150 minimum pension. Bouer's proposals were rejected, however, and he resigned in December 1998; he was succeeded by Leopoldo van Cauwlaert.
Newly elected President Fernando de la Rúa
appointed San Isidro
Mayor Melchor Posse as interim Director General of ANSES in January 2000. President de la Rúa transferred ANSES from the Economy Ministry
to the Labor Ministry. The agency was near insolvency as a result of a 40% fall in contributions since the inaugural of the private AFJP system, a new recession, and mounting lawsuits. Rulings favoring retirees had cost ANSES us$1.4 billion from 1995 to 1999, and us$2.1 billion in 2000, alone. The President placed ANSES under Federal intervention
in November in preparation for his proposed abolition of the agency in favor of the private AFJP system. Posse resigned and was succeeded by former Tucumán Province
Congressman Martín Campero. The worsening economic crisis prompted President de la Rúa's July 10, 2001, "zero deficit" decree, which led to a 13% cut in public sector wages and pensions alike. Campero resigned, and was succeeded on an interim basis by Douglas Lyall.
President de la Rúa resigned amid social unrest in December. President Eduardo Duhalde
enacted the first raise in the minimum pension since 1992 (a one-third increase). He appointed Sergio Massa
as Director of ANSES in 2002, and was confirmed in the post by President Néstor Kirchner
following his May 2003 inaugural. Massa, who had supported the 1993 law that established the private AFJP network, oversaw the voluntary conversion of around two million AFJP accounts to the ANSES' aegis when this choice was made available in March 2007. He remained as director until 2007, when he was elected Mayor of Tigre
. Kirchner's wife and successor, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
, appointed Claudio Moroni in December 2007, and in May 2008, the latter was replaced for Amado Boudou
, who had served as the agency's Comptroller since 2001 and as Secretary General since 2007.
The principal weakness in the private AFJP system was the high rate of commissions
, which exceeded 30% of total monthly contributions, and reached as high as 54%. Private pension funds, moreover, suffered large losses during the crisis from 1998 to 2002, and by 2008 the state subsidized 77% of the funds' beneficiaries, including 40% whose annuities could not cover minimum monthly pensions; of the funds' 9.5 million affiliates, nearly 6 million had stopped making contributions. The 2008 financial crisis exacerbated the problem and in October, President Cristina Kirchner announced plans for the nationalization
of the funds' investments of nearly US$30 billion. These accounts were transferred to the ANSES, while leaving contributors the freedom to invest in private pension funds.
The resulting Integrated Social Security System (SIPA), administered by the ANSES, would be backed by the Sustainability Guarantee Fund (FGS). The FGS is a stabilization fund
also established in response to the 2008 financial crisis, as well as to the rapid growth in the number of ANSES accounts. This latter development began when the transfer of AFJP accounts was made possible in 2007, and was bolstered by the Social Security Inclusion Plan, which allowed the entry of 2.5 million retirees into the system who had earlier been excluded due to insufficient contributions. Boudou was appointed Economy Minister
in July 2009, and he was succeeded by Mortgage Bank
Director Diego Bossio
.
President Cristina Kirchner further enhanced the role of ANSES in social policy. She signed the Pensions Mobility Law in 2008, which provides for semi-annual increases in the benefits schedule, thus formalizing a policy adopted by her husband and predecessor, Néstor Kirchner. Minimum pensions, which had been frozen from 1992 to 2002, rose by nearly 600% by 2010. She also enacted the Universal Childhood Entitlement in 2009. The benefit, contingent upon proof of a child's vaccination and enrollment in school, reached 30% of children, and directly resulted in a reduction in the nation's overall poverty rate from 26% to 22.6% within a year of its implementation.
Following the loss of the Front for Victory
's absolute majorities in both houses of Congress, opposition lawmakers passed a bill on October 14, 2010, reinstating the 82% móvil schedule. The President vetoed the bill, citing the improvements gained by the Inclusion and Mobility Laws, as well as the cost of the bill itself, which would increase ANSES spending by us$10 billion, and force the sale of us$19 billion in securities held by the FGS (56% of the total in 2010).
The agency's stock portfolio, nearly half of which is in Telecom Argentina
, Banco Macro
, and Siderar
, prompted an initiative in April to extend the number of companies with an ANSES member in the Board of Directors
from 27 to all 42 in which it holds a significant stake. Techint
, Siderar's parent company, became the least amenable among these companies to the proposal, leading ANSES to sue for a seat on the board at the steelmaker (a quarter of whose stock is owned by ANSES).
Social insurance
Social insurance is any government-sponsored program with the following four characteristics:* the benefits, eligibility requirements and other aspects of the program are defined by statute;...
agency managed under the aegis of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. The agency is the principal administrator of social security
Social security
Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...
and other social benefits in Argentina, including family and childhood subsidies, and unemployment insurance.
Overview
The majority of Argentina's public social programs, aside from those related to health and housing, are administered by ANSES. Around 87% of Argentine senior citizenSenior citizen
Senior citizen is a common polite designation for an elderly person in both UK and US English, and it implies or means that the person is retired. This in turn implies or in fact means that the person is over the retirement age, which varies according to country. Synonyms include pensioner in UK...
s (5 million) receive ANSES pensions, whose amount is adjusted semi-annually. Argentines in the labor force earning less than 4,800 pesos
Argentine peso
The peso is the currency of Argentina, identified by the symbol $ preceding the amount in the same way as many countries using dollar currencies. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. Its ISO 4217 code is ARS...
(us$1,200) monthly, are entitled to benefits upon marriage; pregnancy, birth, or adoption of a child; for maternity leave or prenatal care
Prenatal care
Prenatal care refers to the medical and nursing care recommended for women before and during pregnancy. The aim of good prenatal care is to detect any potential problems early, to prevent them if possible , and to direct the woman to appropriate specialists, hospitals, etc...
; and for a disability
Disability
A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...
in a child or spouse, as well as to a modest unemployment insurance benefit for up to 6 months. The most important poverty relief program administered by the ANSES is the Asignación Universal por Hijo (Universal Childhood Entitlement). The benefit, 220 pesos (us$55) a month per child, is assigned to 3.6 million children under age 18 (30% of the nation's total), and includes the deposit of 20% of the check in a savings account
Savings account
Savings accounts are accounts maintained by retail financial institutions that pay interest but cannot be used directly as money . These accounts let customers set aside a portion of their liquid assets while earning a monetary return...
accessible only upon certification of the child's enrollment in school
Education Index
This article contains information based on the pre-2010 Human Development Reports. The HDI and its education component have changed in 2010.The United Nations publishes a Human Development Index every year, which consists of the Education index, GDP Index and Life Expectancy Index...
. The program was budgeted at around us$2.5 billion for 2011 (6% of the total). Another recent program is Conectar Igualdad, which envisaged the purchase of 3 million netbook
Netbook
Netbooks are a category of small, lightweight, legacy-free, and inexpensive laptop computers.At their inception in late 2007 as smaller notebooks optimized for low weight and low cost — netbooks omitted certain features , featured smaller screens and keyboards, and offered reduced computing...
s for secondary school students and teachers.
The ANSES is funded by both employee contributions
Withholding tax
Withholding tax, also called retention tax, is a government requirement for the payer of an item of income to withhold or deduct tax from the payment, and pay that tax to the government. In most jurisdictions, withholding tax applies to employment income. Many jurisdictions also require...
and payroll tax
Payroll tax
Payroll tax generally refers to two different kinds of similar taxes. The first kind is a tax that employers are required to withhold from employees' wages, also known as withholding tax, pay-as-you-earn tax , or pay-as-you-go tax...
es (56%), as well as by a share of value added
Value added tax
A value added tax or value-added tax is a form of consumption tax. From the perspective of the buyer, it is a tax on the purchase price. From that of the seller, it is a tax only on the "value added" to a product, material or service, from an accounting point of view, by this stage of its...
and other tax receipts (22%), contributions from the national budget (17%), and interest
Interest
Interest is a fee paid by a borrower of assets to the owner as a form of compensation for the use of the assets. It is most commonly the price paid for the use of borrowed money, or money earned by deposited funds....
receipts (4%). Expenses include social security
Social security
Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...
payments (63%), transfers to provincial and other pension funds (20%), family assistance (12%), and the netbook program (2%); administrative expenses were around 2%. The agency maintains a stabilization fund
Stabilization fund
A stabilization fund generally refers to a mechanism set up by a government or central bank to insulate the domestic economy from large influxes of revenue, as from commodities such as oil...
, the Sustainability Guarantee Fund (FGS), which held approximately us$45 billion in a variety of financial instruments as of February 2011, of which 54% was held in government securities and 12.5% in the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange
Buenos Aires Stock Exchange
The Buenos Aires Stock Exchange is the organization responsible for the operation of Argentina's primary stock exchange located at Buenos Aires CBD. Founded in 1854, is the successor of the Banco Mercantil, created in 1822 by Bernardino Rivadavia.Citing BCBA's self definition: "It is a...
.
The ANSES issues a Código Único de Identificación Laboral (Labor Identification Code) to all registered workers covered under the Public Pension System (SIJP).
Development of pension funds
Social security was first implemented in what today is Argentina in 1785, when the Viceroy of Río de la Plata, Nicolás del CampoNicolás del Campo
Nicolás Francisco Cristóbal del Campo, Marquis of Loreto was a Spanish politician and soldier who occupied several posts in the Spanish American colonies, mainly in the River Plate area.-Biography:...
, enacted bereavement benefit
Bereavement benefit
- United Kingdom :Bereavement benefit replaced Widow's benefit in the United Kingdom in April 2001. It is a social security benefit that is designed to support people who have recently lost their spouse, and need some financial support to help them get back on their feet...
s for widows and orphans of Navy
Spanish Armada
This article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...
personnel. These benefits would later be extended to veteran
Veteran
A veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; " A veteran of ..."...
s of the Argentine War of Independence
Argentine War of Independence
The Argentine War of Independence was fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli and José de San Martín against royalist forces loyal to the Spanish crown...
and later conflicts. Mutual aid societies that provided disability and pension benefits to members were established throughout the nineteenth century by guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
s, as well as by immigrant associations; these latter included Unione e Benevolenza
Italian Argentine
An Italian Argentine is a person born in Argentina of Italian ancestry. It is estimated up to 25 million Argentines have some degree of Italian descent...
and the Asociación Española de Socorros Mutuos
Spanish Argentine
Spanish settlement in Argentina, that is the arrival of Spanish emigrants in Argentina, took place firstly in the period before Argentina's independence from Spain, and again in large numbers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
.
The first official social security system in Argentina was established by Law 4.349, signed by President Julio Roca in 1904. The act, one of the first of its kind in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, provided retirement and disability benefits to government employees and created the Civil Retirement and Pension Fund, enrollment in which was voluntary.
President Hipólito Yrigoyen
Hipólito Yrigoyen
Juan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Irigoyen Alem was twice President of Argentina . His activism became the prime impetus behind the obtainment of universal suffrage in Argentina in 1912...
, elected in 1916, pursued the extension of these benefits to workers in other sectors. Retirement funds were thus established for railroad
Rail transport in Argentina
The Argentine railway network comprised of track at the end of the Second World War and was, in its time, one of the most extensive and prosperous in South America. However, with the increase in highway construction, there followed a sharp decline in railway profitability, leading to the break-up...
employees in 1921; for those in public services in 1922; and for banking and insurance employees in 1923. He failed, however, to do likewise for retail workers, whose employers staged a lockout
Lockout (industry)
A lockout is a work stoppage in which an employer prevents employees from working. This is different from a strike, in which employees refuse to work.- Causes :...
, and succeeded in scuttling the reform. The great depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
seriously weakened these funds, and the Civil Service Fund alone suffered a deficit of over twenty times its reserve by 1931. The increase in deductions and subsequent economic recovery allowed further expansion of pension coverage, with funds established in 1939 for port
Port of Buenos Aires
The Port of Buenos Aires is the principal maritime port in Argentina. Operated by the Administración General de Puertos , a State enterprise, it is the leading transshipment point for the foreign trade of Argentina....
and newspaper employees.
The National Pension System
An initiative by Juan Atilio BramugliaJuan Atilio Bramuglia
Juan Atilio Bramuglia was an Argentine labor lawyer who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs during the administration of President Juan Perón.-Early life and career:...
, chief counsel for the Unión Ferroviaria (at the time the most important union in the CGT
General Confederation of Labour (Argentina)
The General Confederation of Labour of the Argentine Republic is a national trade union centre of Argentina founded on September 27, 1930, as the result of the merge of the USA and the COA trade union centres...
), and by Labor Secretary Juan Perón
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
, promoted the Labor Department to a cabinet level post and, in 1944, established the National Institute for Social Insurance (INPS). The INPS converted the voluntary pension funds, which covered 3% of the total population, into a compulsory system for all employees, effective January 1, 1945, and thus became the first universal social insurance system in Argentina. Perón, elected President in 1946, had retirement and disability benefits included in the Workers' Bill of Rights, enacted on February 24, 1947; this Bill of Rights was subsequently incorporated into the 1949 Constitution as Article 14-b. The self-employed, who account for a fourth of the nation's work force, were incorporated into the Independent Workers' Scheme in 1955. The INPS replaced the former guild funds' capitalization
Capital requirement
Capital requirement refers to -The standardized requirements in place for banks and other depository institutions, which determines how much capital is required to be held for a certain level of assets through regulatory agencies such as the Bank for International Settlements, Federal Deposit...
financing for a PAYGO
PAYGO
PAYGO is the practice in the United States of financing expenditures with funds that are currently available rather than borrowed.-Budgeting:The PAYGO compels new spending or tax changes not to add to the federal deficit. Not to be confused with pay-as-you-go financing, which is when a government...
system, and by 1955, would cover 80% of the population. Participation rates in social security among the self-employed would remain among the lowest, however, and the majority evaded the system in subsequent decades.
Following President Perón's 1955 overthrow, the 1949 Constitution was rescinded. Article 14-b, however, was reaffirmed by the 1957 Assembly
Argentine Constitutional Assembly election, 1957
The Argentine Constitutional Assembly election of 1957 was held on 28 July. Voters chose delegates to the assembly, and with a turnout of 90.1%, it produced the following results:-Constitutional assembly:-Background:...
, thus endorsing the continuity of the social security system, among other social and labor law reforms, with the support of most of the nation's political spectrum. A new payments indexation
Indexation
Indexation is a technique to adjust income payments by means of a price index, in order to maintain the purchasing power of the public after inflation....
system was enacted by President Arturo Frondizi
Arturo Frondizi
Arturo Frondizi Ercoli was the President of Argentina between May 1, 1958, and March 29, 1962, for the Intransigent Radical Civic Union.-Early life:Frondizi was born in Paso de los Libres, Corrientes Province...
in 1958. Minimum monthly pensions were set that ranged from 70% (for those retiring at age 60) to 82% (at age 65) of a contributor's real average earnings during the best three years from the last 10 years of employment. This schedule, popularly known in Argentina as the 82% móvil, led to deficits in the INPS by 1962, and to the reduction of payments to below the 82% ratio; resulting lawsuits were curtailed by a 1967 order. The myriad funds in the INPS were reorganized in 1968 into a National Pension System (NPS) with three general funds for private and public employees and the self-employed, respectively. Each of the nation's provinces
Provinces of Argentina
Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city...
also maintained pension funds for local and provincial government staff. The 82% ratio was limited to those who contributed for at least 30 years, and in 1973, the latter stipulation was dropped with the caveat that the pension-income ratio would be 70%.
The system's principal weakness became the chronically high rates of evasion by contributors. Participation never exceeded half the estimated work force, and those who contributed typically under-reported income; among the self-employed, evasion rates rose to around two-thirds. The system's finances, nevertheless, remained nearly balanced as late as 1978. The dictatorship
National Reorganization Process
The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as la última junta militar or la última dictadura , because several of them existed throughout its history.The Argentine...
in power at the time enacted changes that adversely impacted the pension system, however. Indexation of payments was slowed in 1979 to rates well below inflation, and monthly pensions, which remained at 65% of each worker's reported pre-retirement income in 1978, fell to 40% by 1980. The system's revenue framework was also affected by the replacement of employer contributions (15% of employees' wages) for an earmarked share of the value added tax
Value added tax
A value added tax or value-added tax is a form of consumption tax. From the perspective of the buyer, it is a tax on the purchase price. From that of the seller, it is a tax only on the "value added" to a product, material or service, from an accounting point of view, by this stage of its...
(which was raised). The NPS would be further strained by the 1981 collapse of Economy Minister José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz
José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz
José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz was an Argentine executive and policy maker. He served as Minister of the Economy under de facto President Jorge Rafael Videla between 1976 and 1981, and shaped economic policy during the self-styled National Reorganization Process military dictatorship.-Early...
's policies of financial deregulation
Big Bang (financial markets)
The phrase Big Bang, used in reference to the sudden deregulation of financial markets, was coined to describe measures, including abolition of fixed commission charges and of the distinction between stockjobbers and stockbrokers on the London Stock Exchange and change from open-outcry to...
. Compliance eroded and with it, the real value of pensions which, by 1987, had fallen to 25% of pre-retirement income. A wave of lawsuits against the NPS thus followed, and in 1986, President Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...
ordered an injunction
Injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
against further liens on NPS accounts.
The NPS was officially superseded in 1990 by the INPS, an interim agency during whose tenure a two-tier system
Two-tier system
A two-tier system is a type of payroll system in which one group of workers receives lower wages and/or employee benefits than another.The two-tier system of wages is usually established for one of three reasons: 1) The employer wishes to better compensate more senior, ostensibly more experienced...
was established and the three funds operated by the NPS were merged. These changes were adopted, with modifications, in the establishment of the ANSES on December 27, 1992, through Decree 2741/91 signed by President Carlos Menem
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...
.
ANSES
The first Director of ANSES was Arnaldo Cisilino, who had directed the INPS. Cisilino oversaw the absorption of the INPS into ANSES, completed in 1994, and had an IBMIBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
computer system installed in the antiquated agency between 1991 and 1994. Debts stemming from lawsuits filed from 1987 onward were settled in 1993 with government bond
Government bond
A government bond is a bond issued by a national government denominated in the country's own currency. Bonds are debt investments whereby an investor loans a certain amount of money, for a certain amount of time, with a certain interest rate, to a company or country...
s and funds obtained from the privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
of the state oil concern, YPF. Cisilino stepped down in 1995, and was succeeded as director by Alejandro Bramer Markovic. Bramer Markovic, who was also named Director of PAMI
PAMI
PAMI is a public health insurance agency in Argentina managed by the Ministry of Health.-Overview:Administered under the aegis of the Instituto Nacional de Servicios Sociales para Jubilados y Pensionados , PAMI serves senior citizens, the indigent, and veterans of the 1982 Falklands War.PAMI...
(the national public health insurance system for the elderly and disabled), inherited yawning deficits at ANSES, which reached us$2.8 billion in the first half of 1996.
These were exacerbated by numerous factors, including the 1995 recession, and a portfolio of up to 300,000 fraudulent pensions
Benefit fraud
Benefit fraud is a form of welfare fraud as found within the system of government benefits paid to individuals by the UK welfare state.- What is benefit fraud? :...
estimated to cost ANSES nearly a billion dollars annually. The most pervasive challenge to the 20 billion-dollar agency's finances, however, resulted from the 1994 introduction of private pension fund
Pension fund
A pension fund is any plan, fund, or scheme which provides retirement income.Pension funds are important shareholders of listed and private companies. They are especially important to the stock market where large institutional investors dominate. The largest 300 pension funds collectively hold...
s (AFJP), whose enrollees were barred from returning to the ANSES system. He reduced benefit abuse and had charges filed against Cisilino for the no bid IBM contracts, which later resulted in the latter's indictment for fraud
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
. Bramer Markovic, however, was an outsider to President Menem's political circle, and was replaced in January 1998 by Saúl Bouer, a former Mayor of Buenos Aires. Bouer, like his predecessor, faced an ongoing wave of lawsuits filed by those contesting their pension determination, which averaged us$300 a month. Bouer advocated a greater willingness to settle
Settlement (law)
In law, a settlement is a resolution between disputing parties about a legal case, reached either before or after court action begins. The term "settlement" also has other meanings in the context of law.-Basis:...
with plaintiffs, as well as an increase in the us$150 minimum pension. Bouer's proposals were rejected, however, and he resigned in December 1998; he was succeeded by Leopoldo van Cauwlaert.
Newly elected President Fernando de la Rúa
Fernando de la Rúa
Fernando de la Rúa is an Argentine politician. He was president of the country from December 10, 1999 to December 21, 2001 for the Alliance for Work, Justice and Education ....
appointed San Isidro
San Isidro, Buenos Aires
San Isidro, Buenos Aires is a municipality in Greater Buenos Aires and one of the most affluent municipalities in Argentina. It is located in San Isidro Partido in the Buenos Aires Province....
Mayor Melchor Posse as interim Director General of ANSES in January 2000. President de la Rúa transferred ANSES from the Economy Ministry
Minister of Economy of Argentina
The Minister of Economy is the head of the Ministry of Economy and Production of Argentina, concerned with finance and monetary matters. The position within the Government of Argentina is analogous to the finance ministers of some countries and the United States Treasury Secretary...
to the Labor Ministry. The agency was near insolvency as a result of a 40% fall in contributions since the inaugural of the private AFJP system, a new recession, and mounting lawsuits. Rulings favoring retirees had cost ANSES us$1.4 billion from 1995 to 1999, and us$2.1 billion in 2000, alone. The President placed ANSES under Federal intervention
Federal intervention
Federal intervention is an attribution of the federal government of Argentina, by which it takes control of a province in certain extreme cases. Intervention is declared by the President with the assent of the National Congress...
in November in preparation for his proposed abolition of the agency in favor of the private AFJP system. Posse resigned and was succeeded by former Tucumán Province
Tucumán Province
Tucumán is the most densely populated, and the smallest by land area, of the provinces of Argentina. Located in the northwest of the country, the capital is San Miguel de Tucumán, often shortened to Tucumán. Neighboring provinces are, clockwise from the north: Salta, Santiago del Estero and...
Congressman Martín Campero. The worsening economic crisis prompted President de la Rúa's July 10, 2001, "zero deficit" decree, which led to a 13% cut in public sector wages and pensions alike. Campero resigned, and was succeeded on an interim basis by Douglas Lyall.
President de la Rúa resigned amid social unrest in December. President Eduardo Duhalde
Eduardo Duhalde
-External links:...
enacted the first raise in the minimum pension since 1992 (a one-third increase). He appointed Sergio Massa
Sergio Massa
Sergio Tomás Massa is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician and was the President's Cabinet Chief from July 2008 to July 2009....
as Director of ANSES in 2002, and was confirmed in the post by President Néstor Kirchner
Néstor Kirchner
Néstor Carlos Kirchner was an Argentine politician who served as the 54th President of Argentina from 25 May 2003 until 10 December 2007. Previously, he was Governor of Santa Cruz Province since 10 December 1991. He briefly served as Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations ...
following his May 2003 inaugural. Massa, who had supported the 1993 law that established the private AFJP network, oversaw the voluntary conversion of around two million AFJP accounts to the ANSES' aegis when this choice was made available in March 2007. He remained as director until 2007, when he was elected Mayor of Tigre
Tigre, Buenos Aires
Tigre is a town in the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, situated in the north of Greater Buenos Aires, north of Buenos Aires city. Tigre lies on the Paraná Delta and is an important tourist and weekend attraction, easily reached by bus and train services, including the scenic Tren de la Costa...
. Kirchner's wife and successor, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner , commonly known as Cristina Fernández or Cristina Kirchner is the 55th and current President of Argentina and the widow of former President Néstor Kirchner. She is Argentina's first elected female president, and the second female president ever to serve...
, appointed Claudio Moroni in December 2007, and in May 2008, the latter was replaced for Amado Boudou
Amado Boudou
Amado Boudou is an Argentine businessman and government policy maker who serves as Minister of the Economy since 2009. He was elected Vice President of Argentina as running mate of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in the 2011 general election.-Early life and career:Amado Boudou was born in Mar del...
, who had served as the agency's Comptroller since 2001 and as Secretary General since 2007.
The principal weakness in the private AFJP system was the high rate of commissions
Commission (remuneration)
The payment of commission as remuneration for services rendered or products sold is a common way to reward sales people. Payments often will be calculated on the basis of a percentage of the goods sold...
, which exceeded 30% of total monthly contributions, and reached as high as 54%. Private pension funds, moreover, suffered large losses during the crisis from 1998 to 2002, and by 2008 the state subsidized 77% of the funds' beneficiaries, including 40% whose annuities could not cover minimum monthly pensions; of the funds' 9.5 million affiliates, nearly 6 million had stopped making contributions. The 2008 financial crisis exacerbated the problem and in October, President Cristina Kirchner announced plans for the nationalization
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
of the funds' investments of nearly US$30 billion. These accounts were transferred to the ANSES, while leaving contributors the freedom to invest in private pension funds.
The resulting Integrated Social Security System (SIPA), administered by the ANSES, would be backed by the Sustainability Guarantee Fund (FGS). The FGS is a stabilization fund
Stabilization fund
A stabilization fund generally refers to a mechanism set up by a government or central bank to insulate the domestic economy from large influxes of revenue, as from commodities such as oil...
also established in response to the 2008 financial crisis, as well as to the rapid growth in the number of ANSES accounts. This latter development began when the transfer of AFJP accounts was made possible in 2007, and was bolstered by the Social Security Inclusion Plan, which allowed the entry of 2.5 million retirees into the system who had earlier been excluded due to insufficient contributions. Boudou was appointed Economy Minister
Minister of Economy of Argentina
The Minister of Economy is the head of the Ministry of Economy and Production of Argentina, concerned with finance and monetary matters. The position within the Government of Argentina is analogous to the finance ministers of some countries and the United States Treasury Secretary...
in July 2009, and he was succeeded by Mortgage Bank
Banco Hipotecario
Banco Hipotecario is an important commercial bank in Argentina and the nation's premier mortgage lender.-Overview:The institution was chartered on September 24, 1886, as the Banco Hipotecario Nacional by a bill signed by President Julio Roca...
Director Diego Bossio
Diego Bossio
Diego Bossio is an Argentine economist appointed Executive Director of ANSES, the national social insurance agency.-Life and times:...
.
President Cristina Kirchner further enhanced the role of ANSES in social policy. She signed the Pensions Mobility Law in 2008, which provides for semi-annual increases in the benefits schedule, thus formalizing a policy adopted by her husband and predecessor, Néstor Kirchner. Minimum pensions, which had been frozen from 1992 to 2002, rose by nearly 600% by 2010. She also enacted the Universal Childhood Entitlement in 2009. The benefit, contingent upon proof of a child's vaccination and enrollment in school, reached 30% of children, and directly resulted in a reduction in the nation's overall poverty rate from 26% to 22.6% within a year of its implementation.
Following the loss of the Front for Victory
Front for Victory
The Front for Victory is a Peronist political party and electoral alliance in Argentina, although it is formally a faction of the Justicialist Party. Both the former President Néstor Kirchner and the current President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner belong to this party, located on the left-wing...
's absolute majorities in both houses of Congress, opposition lawmakers passed a bill on October 14, 2010, reinstating the 82% móvil schedule. The President vetoed the bill, citing the improvements gained by the Inclusion and Mobility Laws, as well as the cost of the bill itself, which would increase ANSES spending by us$10 billion, and force the sale of us$19 billion in securities held by the FGS (56% of the total in 2010).
The agency's stock portfolio, nearly half of which is in Telecom Argentina
Telecom Argentina
Telecom Argentina is the major local telephone company for the northern part of Argentina, including the whole of the city of Buenos Aires...
, Banco Macro
Banco Macro
Banco Macro is the largest domestically-owned private bank in Argentina, and the fifth-largest by deposits and lending.-Overview:Banco Macro began operations as Financiera Macro, a brokerage specializing in arbitrage founded by Mario Brodersohn, José Dagnino Pastore and Alieto Guadagni, in 1976...
, and Siderar
Ternium
Ternium is a manufacturer of flat and long steel products with production centers in Argentina, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia and the United States...
, prompted an initiative in April to extend the number of companies with an ANSES member in the Board of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
from 27 to all 42 in which it holds a significant stake. Techint
Techint
Techint is a conglomerate multinational company founded in Milan in September 1945 by Italian industrialist Agostino Rocca and headquartered in Milan and Buenos Aires . Techint comprises more than 100 companies operating worldwide in the following areas of business: Engineering & Construction,...
, Siderar's parent company, became the least amenable among these companies to the proposal, leading ANSES to sue for a seat on the board at the steelmaker (a quarter of whose stock is owned by ANSES).
Executive Directors
| President | Term |
|---|---|
| Arnaldo Cisilino | 1992 — 1995 |
| Alejandro Bramer Markovic | 1995 — 1998 |
| Saúl Bouer | 1998 |
| Leopoldo van Cauwlaert | 1998 — 2000 |
| Melchor Posse | 2000 |
| Martín Campero | 2000 — 2001 |
| Douglas Lyall | 2001 — 2002 |
| Sergio Massa | 2002 — 2007 |
| Claudio Moroni | 2007 — 2008 |
| Amado Boudou | 2008 — 2009 |
| Diego Bossio | 2009 to date |