By Munachimso Obienyi
With the current high inflationary environment in Nigeria, Agusto & Co has estimated that growth in pension assets will slow from a five-year average of 19 per cent to 10 per cent in 2022.
According to a statement made available to NwafoLive, the research and credit rating agency noted that the 6 percent annual average growth rate recorded in global pension assets in the past two decades to $56.6 trillion in 2021, estimated at 76 per cent of GDP in the 22 major pension markets; is not just reflective of the industry’s robustness but also highlights its importance to capital markets across the world.
It noted that the operations, activities and prosperity of the pension industry are crucially hinged on the direction of PenCom’s regulation, which Agusto & Co. expects to remain robust given the industry’s strategic importance to the Nigerian economy, and the need to more closely align the Nigerian pension scheme with international standards in the near term.
“Agusto & Co. also estimates that growth in pension assets will slow from a five-year average of 19 per cent to 10 per cent in 2022 due to a combination of a muted interest rate environment and a slowdown in the rate of contributions which has been impacted by mass emigration and high unemployment. We, therefore, expect pension assets to reach N14.8 trillion by the end of 2022”, the agency said.
It said that in the last decade, the 628 per cent surge in the size of pension fund assets to N14.27 trillion as at 30 June 2022, is indicative of the industry’s growth and evolution.
