Use pension funds to develop Ghana’s economy – Investment expert

The Chief Executive Officer of Dusk Capital Bernard Osei-Tutu Jnr has urged the government to utilise available pension funds available through strategic measures.

Osei-Tutu opined that the Nana Addo-led government will do a lot of good to the economy if it makes the funds available to investment firms for proper management.

Bernard Osei-Tutu Jnr believes Ghana can emulate many European countries whose economic development depended on pension funds.

“We are praying that with the new government, the direction will be that let’s use pensions to develop our economy; ie the infrastructure, the roads, the schools that we are talking about; let’s give the private sector the opportunity.”

“For me as a fund manager, I’m looking for an avenue where government can say that; Dusk Capital as a fund manager we are giving you the free hand to invest into real estate. It will push a lot of us to develop programs that will bring a lot of returns on the monies we are to manage,” he added.

In an interview with Accra-based Starr FM, he said the government will only have to put in measures to monitor the regime of returns from the investment companies.

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For over six years, the government has kept public sector pension funds; a development which has been blamed for slow growth of some investment portfolios.

Since the implementation of the NPRA’s law in 2010, employers are to transfer the 5% 2nd-Tier pension contributions into the Temporary Pension Fund Account (TPFA) to be released subsequently after all data have been reconciled.

The transfer for the previous month is to be paid within 14 days of the following month. Currently, it is unclear how much has been accrued. But in 2014, the Chief Executive of the NPRA said the amount accrued since the coming into effect of the new pensions law in 2010 is estimated at over GH¢1.6bn.