The reform of the Peruvian pension system loses one of its pillars. The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) published this morning Supreme Decree No. 061-2026-EF, which modifies the Law on Modernization of the Pension System and makes official the decision of Congress to exclude independent workers from the mandatory pension contribution.
The measure, approved in September of last year, is materialized in article 23, whiche establishes that citizens who carry out independent work or who are over 55 years old at the time of the entry into force of Law No. 32123, as long as they do not join the dependent labor marketmay optionally join the National Pension System or the Private Pension System.
The change is not minor. In a country where informality exceeds 70% and pension coverage is concentrated in formal workers, making contributions mandatory for self-employed workers was one of the mechanisms to expand the scope of the system.
For Martín Valencia, head of economic studies at the Peruvian Institute of Economics (IPE), the decision weakens the incentives to build a culture of pension savings. “This measure goes against what is required to advance a culture of pension savings. From the IPE we believe that it is a step backwards,” he told El Comercio.
The problem, he explains, also responds to behavioral factors. In Peru, young adults, especially between 25 and 30 years old, tend to postpone saving for retirement, perceiving it as a distant need. Faced with this, pension systems usually incorporate mandatory mechanisms that correct this bias. Without this tool, he warns, public policy loses its ability to induce long-term savings.
According to IPE figures, for 2021, 96% of independent workers were either not affiliated (79%) or did not contribute in the last year (17%). That is to say, nine out of ten of the total are informal.
But the impact is not limited to individual incentives. For Luis Miguel Castilla, executive director of Videnza Instituto and former Minister of Economy and Finance, the decision also reflects a persistent institutional weakness: the difficulty of sustaining pension reforms over time. During his management in the MEF, in 2013, the mandatory nature of contributions from independent workers was approved gradually; However, Congress postponed its implementation and later repealed it. Along these lines, he described the current provision as a new setback.
In fact, according to Sergio Espinosa, head of the Superintendency of Banking, Insurance and AFP (SBS), the institution he leads published a flexible rule for the entry of more actors into the fund management market, until February, no application was registered. “I would say that the main reason was the eighth withdrawal, because we had expressions of interest from some local and foreign groups,” he declared in an interview for El Comercio (02/19/2026).
Pension funds.
Noelia Bernal, professor and researcher at the Universidad del Pacífico, warns that the measure eliminates one of the few tools aimed at including workers outside the formal market.
“The policy of making contributions from independent workers mandatory was a good policy to expand their social protection; in addition, it was gradual. But what did they do? They repealed it and this decree only materializes that decision. This, in terms of social protection, only gives the message of: ‘you will see how you protect yourself during your old age. I, as a State, do not make any modifications to my pension system to include you,'” he stated.
The changes in our pension system were also observed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which sent a letter to the SBS with the observations as a result of this latest law and the gaps that the reform maintains. Given this, the SBS is preparing a study on the current situation of the pension system to determine what else can be proposed and funded.
“The idea is that it becomes an input that is discussed by the incoming government and analyzed. It will have its own approaches and ideas, but we want it to serve as an input, with technical support, and with data from other countries in the world, considering the particularities that the Peruvian market has,” said Espinosa.
The exclusion of independent workers is not an isolated event. In parallel, Congress also approved a new withdrawal of funds from the AFP, deepening a trend that, according to specialists, has been eroding the scope of the reform.
“Every time they are dismantling this reform, they have been leaving it without content. One positive thing that was approved was the elimination of the 95.5% withdrawal, but (Congress) reestablished it. They also approved the withdrawals. The most positive thing has been the minimum pension, but this has not yet materialized,” said Castilla.
The Congress of the Republic approved the vote of confidence in the ministerial cabinet chaired by Luis Arroyo, after its presentation before the national representation. Photos: Mario Zapata N. / @photo.gec
This scenario also introduces an element of regulatory uncertainty that could affect other key components of modernization, such as the entry of new managers into the system. “No matter how hard the SBS tries to open the field to other players, probably no one wants to enter because there is a lot of regulatory risk; that is, what guarantees that an actor enters and that there is not a new withdrawal?” he warned.
From the IPE they agree that, although the reform incorporated positive elements – such as the minimum pension and the expansion of managers -, recent modifications have been eroding its content. The result, they point out, is an increasingly less favorable balance.
Along the same lines, Bernal considers that the changes do not constitute a structural modernization of the system. The coexistence of the Private Pension System (SPP) and the National Pension System (SNP) remains without fundamental transformations and continues to benefit a small proportion of workers. Thus, the main challenges such as the inclusion of informal workers and the protection of vulnerable older adults remain pending. Although programs such as Pensión 65 have had limited expansion, they still do not cover the entire population in poverty.
The decree modified article 21, which provides for affiliation to the pension system for minors who carry out economic activities on a dependent basis and have work authorization issued by the Administrative Labor Authority or the competent authority, in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 27337, Law that approves the Children and Adolescents Code and complementary regulations.
In this regard, Valencia, from the IPE, remembers that this regulation on minors does not appear in the modernization law (no. 32123) or in its moficatory (no. 32445), but it does appear in the regulations of the former. With the decree published yesterday, the right was eliminated for minors who, as of January 1, 2028, receive fourth category income, and who have authorization to work as employees.
“The modification of this article on minors only adapts to a special case, of a very small group of minors who may have dependent and formal jobs (think of child actors). It would not have a significant impact on coverage,” he mentions.
