As has already happened with the Covid-19 pandemic and the eruption of the La Palma volcano, the Government of Pedro Sanchez turned to private pension plans to provide financial assistance to those affected by the DANA in the province of Valencia, Castile-La Mancha and Andalusia.
The Executive has allowed up to 10,800 euros per participant to be withdrawn from these retirement savings instruments, provided that this money is used for the reconstruction of flooded areas. However, and taking into account the precedents of 2020 and 2021, The measure could prove more aesthetic than effective.
In both cases, the people affected barely used 98 million euros into their retirement plans to generate cash and rebuild their lives. Because of Covid, 97 million euros were requested in 2020, while because of the Canary Islands volcano, not even a million euros was requested between 2021 and 2022.
Translated into number of beneficiaries, a total of 56,521 people They withdrew from their pension plans for one of two reasons: about 55,950 because of the pandemic and 935 because of the La Palma volcano, according to Inverco data.
Whether due to the lack of sufficient savings in retirement plans, excessive bureaucracy at the time of the special rescue or bad publicity from public institutions and financial entities, citizens’ access to these vehicles as a source of economic solvency has been very limited.
Thus, the employers’ association which brings together pension managers (Inverco) underlines in a press release that “the need to boost savings in retirement planswhich in addition to serving to meet retirement as the main objective, allow additional coverage for the population in such difficult situations like those that residents of the affected area are currently facing.
The government tool extends to members of pension plans, insured pension plans (PPA), corporate social protection plans and mutual social protection societies. And pensioners affected by DANA can withdraw their funds immediately, up to the indicated amount.
How many Valencians have a plan
For their part, the managers have already ensured “their maximum availability to quickly manage these requests”.
The government has not calculated how many people it believes could benefit from their pension plans, or how much accumulated.
To get an idea of the number of people benefiting from an individual retirement plan throughout the province of Valencia (the most affected region), whether or not they are affected by DANA, the Inverco Observatory has established that, at the end of 2023 , there was practically 415,000 participating accounts among a population that amounted to 2.6 million people, showing a commercial penetration of these financial products in the Levant province of 15.6%.
And the average assets per participating account were 9,983 euros817 euros below the limit authorized by the Government to make it liquid.
