ZUS: 1.7 mln OFE re-applicants

The wild rush this Thursday to re-apply to the OFE private pension funds resulted in 1 million 577 thousand applications. A further 100-150 thousand is expected to arrive via post, claimed Social Insurance Office (ZUS) president Zbigniew Derdziuk. TVN24 BiŚ reported that ZUS serviced 200,000 applications on the last day of the enrollment period. The entire number of re-applicants will not surpass 2 million, claimed Derdziuk. At stake was the choice to deposit a 2.92 percent income deduction into a private pension fund. Previously, a greater share of income deductions went into private funds, until the government curbed the practice and ordered a transfer of funds into the social insurance scheme. Up until now, the Ministry of Finance had to bankroll about 30 percent of the ongoing retirement pensions. Due to the transfer of contributions into ZUS, the ministry will cut its financing of retirement pensions by 90 percent, said Derdziuk.