Retirement: One More Alarm Bell

Over the past few years, the Court of Auditors’ annual reports have repeatedly sounded the alarm on the matter, while also putting forward potential “ways out of the crisis.” And the financial watchdog’s latest report has been no exception.

Once again, the Court of Auditors points to the worsening technical deficit, the gradual depletion of reserves, the demographic imbalance—with a continuing deterioration in the ratio of contributors to retirees—and the delay in implementing an overall reform.

Although parametric reforms were introduced in 2016, the Court considers that they merely postponed the deadline without addressing the underlying problem.

Accordingly, the institution recommends an urgent structural reform as well as immediate parametric measures. While awaiting the comprehensive reform, the Court’s report suggests, among other things, considering new adjustments that could relate to the retirement age, the contribution rate, or the method used to calculate pensions, in order to extend the sustainability of reserves beyond 2030.

However, the launch of a new approach clearly indicates that the social partners are aware of the need to move beyond a posture of questioning and into a logic of proposals.

The overhaul of the pension schemes is at a decisive turning point. For the past few days, meetings of the Technical Commission tasked with reforming these schemes have been taking place under the banner of urgency, with the heads of the various funds in attendance.

Indeed, the Commission’s members—representing trade-union confederations, businesses, and ministerial departments—have begun a series of meetings, the first of which was held with CNSS officials on Thursday, 16 January.

This gave the Fund’s officials the opportunity to present all the indicators related to its situation. After three hours, the Commission members left with technical documents intended to enable them to establish an “accurate diagnosis” of the CNSS’s situation.

Timetable set

In this momentum—where, union sources note, the term “reform” is not yet being used, but rather “comprehensive diagnosis,” with the various stakeholders involved—the idea is to come up with a roadmap to “move quickly,” away from any form of one-upmanship that has only delayed, for years, a necessary reform.

The goal is to identify, within a consensual and responsible framework, practical avenues for a long-awaited refoundation—both to stave off the worst and to ensure the long-term sustainability of schemes under pressure.

This is particularly true for the public civil schemes, whose technical deficit had reached, according to some estimates, more than 7 billion dirhams by the end of 2024, coupled with a risk of reserves being depleted as early as 2030. Contrary to what some parties claim, this is by no means “misplaced alarmism,” given how delicate the situation looks if nothing is done.

Moreover, the 16 January meeting gave CNSS officials the opportunity to place before the Commission a report covering all the indicators linked to the Fund’s real situation.

This included revenue, the number of members, the mechanisms adopted for processing files, as well as trends in contributions and expenditure—without forgetting, of course, the basket of healthcare services.

An overall presentation intended to enable the Commission to establish an accurate diagnosis of the Fund’s situation. Under this new approach, similar meetings are scheduled in February with the management of the Moroccan Interprofessional Retirement Fund (CIMR), the Moroccan Pension Fund (CMR) and the Collective Retirement Allowance Scheme (RCAR).

It should also be noted that the Executive committed, at the last meeting of the Technical Commission held in December, to putting its final vision on the table once the diagnosis of all the funds has been completed.

This vision will then be submitted to the National Commission in charge of reforming the pension systems—chaired by the Head of Government, Aziz Akhannouch—for review and arbitration.

As a reminder, these meetings form part of the commitment made by the government to the unions and the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM).

Indeed, in the explanatory note to the 2026 Finance Bill, the Executive stated that the effective launch of the pension-system reform process would take place before the end of next April.

In the wake of that, once the broad outlines are approved, the government will move to the second phase, which will involve drafting the legislative and regulatory texts needed to implement the chosen reform scenario. With a clear objective: that these texts can enter the legislative process starting next May. The timetable is thus set.