Experts do not see easy ways out for the collection of the debts of the IESS to the Government.
According to the budget execution of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, until December, the Government would owe $ 465 million, since it has paid $ 832 million when what it should have paid is $ 1,267 million. This figure is in addition to those presented by the president of the IESS, Francisco Cepeda, and which reflects the sensitive IESS-State relationship.
Cepeda said in an interview with this newspaper that the Government has a large debt with the IESS ($ 8,175 million, of which $ 4,300 million are for health and $ 2,758 million for pensions, in addition to other balances). But he also clarified that the health fund is practically collapsed; the pension can last a couple of years more. Consequently, the Biess, which has been a frequent financier of the State, could no longer continue to lend to the Government, precisely because of the enormous debt it has and the lack of liquidity. For this reason, he argued that there are no more alternatives, but that the time has come to make a payment agreement.
According to experts, the solutions are not easy and go from looking for creative ways to pay, to adopting structural solutions. Precisely, the president of the IESS has said that the Government and the IESS are agreeing on the calculation methodologies, and that there has been talk of payment options that include a part of the OCP rate or even a payment from the telecommunications sector.
On the subject, Henry Llanes, vice president of the Association of members, pensioners and retirees of the IESS, explained that his organization had presented to President Guillermo Lasso, last June, a proposal for the Government to seek the collection of royalties from the oil companies and that those monies go to the IESS. He also recalled that President Lasso said in an international interview that shares in the oil and mining sector could be transferred, as well as the telecommunications issue.
He said that he is struck by the fact that the president of the IESS, Francisco Cepeda, recognizes that there is a debt of $ 8,175 million, but that he says that only $ 300 million have been negotiated. In his opinion, if all the debt were to be recognized, then the deficit of the general state budget would increase.
For Llanes, without immediate payment, members’ contributions and savings are being put at risk. Do not forget, he said that those debts that the State has, through the various governments, are because they have been taken from the money of the affiliates. The IESS has had to cover the health care of people who are not affiliated and this is in the law. In other words, the governments acted irresponsibly.
He agreed with Cepeda that at the moment the Biess no longer has more money to lend to the Government. He considered that the Government, for its part, should seek how to make its oil contracts or telecommunications more profitable, in order to have more income. He thinks that an urgent reform of the law must be carried out to correct the distortions that now exist, such as care for the children of members up to 18 years of age, as these benefits do not have adequate financing. For Llanes, only after the house is put in order, then one could begin to think about making more fundamental reforms such as increasing the retirement age or increasing contributions.
For Alberto Acosta Burneo, editor of Weekly Analysis, the issue of the government paying the IESS does not solve the problem of social security. The big problem is that the IESS is consuming the funds, because the income is less than the expenses it has, and that must be corrected.
According to the expert, we must not lose sight of the fact that the government’s situation is complex and that 40% of the pensions that it must pay by law is becoming an increasingly heavy burden.
It also ensures that the Government could pay part of the existing debt with assets, since it does not have liquidity, and that surely the IESS will have to sell these to obtain it. However, he insisted that all this is treating the symptoms, but not the true disease, which is that the IESS does not have enough resources to cover the existing benefits. He also pointed out that currently the monies that the treasury must deliver to the IESS go to the benefit of only three out of every ten Ecuadorians, because those are the ones who have a suitable job and are affiliated.
Regarding the warning from the IESS that no more money could be given to the Government to finance it, he said that in practice it is impossible for the Biess not to continue renewing the bonds to the Government, which is that they will have to negotiate how much to renews and how much not.
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