Insurance and Pension Denmark (IPD) has released figures showing what it says is the biggest annual increase in overall pension contributions that the country has seen since 2007, with most of the rise coming from occupational pensions, but warned that this year could be a different story.
The industry association said that new figures showed overall pension contributions in Denmark in 2021 grew to their highest-ever level of DKK139.8bn (€18.8bn), rising by more than DKK7bn from 2020, with this level of growth being the strongest seen since 2010.
IPD said it was largely labour-market pension contribututions that were growing, with the increase in this segment being almost DKK6bn from 2020 to 2021.
“This must be seen in light of the historically high growth in employment, which increased by almost 80,000 people in 2021,” the lobby group said.
Kent Damsgaard, IPD’s chief executive officer, said: “The development emphasises that we have come through the coronavirus crisis well, and this provides a good ballast for meeting the challenges that the unfortunate situation in Ukraine will entail for Denmark as well.”
But he warned that although the Danish economy was in a good initial situation, there was much to suggest that inflation, low growth and rising unemployment would lead to a “proper shake-up” this year.
“The development depends entirely on how energy prices develop, and this is closely linked to the development in the war in Ukraine,” he said.
A week ago, IPD came out with a proposal that Denmark’s pensions assets be used to help bolster national security, by investing in army buildings for example, in light of the war in Ukraine, against the background of the “national compromise” pact agreed by Danish politicians at the beginning of March.
Read the digital edition of IPE’s latest magazine
No comments yet