Only 4% of Czechs interested in pension reform

Prague, March 7 (CTK) - About 4 percent of Czechs over 18 are interested in entering the newly introduced second pillar of the pension system, and their interest has been falling since August last year, according to AWD's latest Pension Barometer survey conducted among over 700 respondents.

AWD carries out the Pension Barometer poll monthly.

"The interest in the second pillar is slowly but surely approaching zero, and even the campaign of pension companies, which started in January, has not changed this situation. Pension companies are nevertheless still optimistic. They hope that more than half a million people will enter the second pillar by the middle of this year. Our polls, however, indicate that this will not happen and the second pillar will be a failure,“ AWD analyst Tomas Rampula said.

In the first two months of this year, 13,504 people entered the second pillar. At the end of January, the figure was at 4,624. In February, their number increased.

„If we manage to maintain this speed of growth, I do not fear that the second pillar will not have more than half a million clients by June,“ Pension Funds Association head and pension company CSOB Penzijni spolecnost CEO Karel Svoboda said.