Governments eye citizens’ pension savings to ease debt strain

As fiscal pressures deepen from aging populations and pandemic-era debt, governments are increasingly tapping into a tempting source of capital: citizens' retirement savings. Pension fund assets across the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have more than tripled since 2003, reaching $63.1 trillion in 2024, according to the Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index. That enormous growth has drawn fresh political attention at a time when most countries are battling debt overhangs, making that capital look irresistible. However, the trouble starts when governments interfere and tell funds to invest too much at home, which breaks the delicate balance that fund managers have calculated between risk and reward, said Sébastien Betermier, executive director at the International