Raising retirement age may worsen unemployment - ABCON

The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has cautioned against increasing the retirement age stressing this works against policies to reduce youth unemployment.

The Association stated this in its Quarterly Economic Review report for the Third Quarter of 2020.

It urged the Federal Government to prepare post-retirement facilities instead of increasing retirement age.

Nigeria recently increased the retirement age of teachers from 60 to 65 years. “Increasing workforce retirement age is counterproductive under conditions of high youth unemployment rate, instead the government should prepare solid post-retirement facilities”, it said.

It urged the Federal Government to promote the policy to reduce youth unemployment with a view to addressing social unrest.

“Government spending should be directed towards business recovery, poverty alleviation and infrastructure development but structured to give a good mix with monetary policy trust,” it advised.

The association also cautioned the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) against pegging of the interest rates and other variables, stressing that this can lead to malfunctioning of the system.

It recommended that the monetary authority should intervene in selected priority sectors through incentives, adding that this will allow for the smooth flow of the whole economy, especially when complemented with fiscal management efforts.

ABCON also called for increased cooperation among BDC operators so as to attract autonomous foreign exchange inflows facilitated by the reopening of the economy.