Social security system misses out on a windfall
The passive management of the social security system’s reserves has led to large losses.
If the reserves of the funds had been invested in the two mutual funds managed by the now-defunct Social Security Foundation (IKA) from 2002, when the law first allowed for more active management, the return would have been 18.5 billion euros, despite the bond haircut during the debt crisis.
This amount corresponds to the state subsidy of the insurance system for an entire year as analyzed by economist Christos Nounis in his book.
As he points out, the returns of the two mutual funds from 2002 to the end of 2023 actually reached 102%.
