South Africans Given Early Access to Pensions Tap $1.2 Billion
South African pension funds have paid out 21.4 billion rand ($1.2 billion) since new rules that allow savers early access to part of their retirement funds came into effect on Sept. 1, the tax authority said.
The South African Revenue Service said it had received 1.2 million tax-directive applications for withdrawals, of which 1.1 million were approved.
“The remainder were declined for a variety of reasons, including incorrect identity numbers, incorrect tax numbers, amongst others,” it said in a statement Friday.
The so-called two-pot system gives pension fund members early access to portions of their retirement savings without having to pay penalties, resign or cash out the full amount.
The central bank estimates that under a moderate-withdrawal scenario gross domestic product growth will get a 0.1 percentage points boost this year. Under a high-withdrawal scenario, GDP growth could increase by as much as 0.3 percentage in 2024, it said.
