FRANCE – The French government should fund the country’s pensions reserve fund as quickly as possible and ensure the money is managed in a dynamic fashion as one of a number of measures to avoid the much trailed “demographic shock” of 2040, according to French think-tank Futuribles.

The group’s latest research paper entitled “Les Retraites en France à l’horizon 2040” (The outlook for retirement in France in 2040), offers a number of economic and social scenarios for France over the next forty years and proposes lessons to be learned and possible prudent action to take in order to avoid a future pensions timebomb.

Futuribles also suggests that France shifts to a more equitable and transparent points system for the country’s basic retirement system and that the indexation of pensions be replaced by a tariff linked to the country’s national wealth.

Such changes, the think-tank says, will be necessary to avoid a demographic problem that could be “more pronounced and more brutal” than expected while the cost of retirement is likely to rise dramatically and become increasingly difficult to finance.

The survey by Benjamin Delannoy, Hugues de Jouvenel and Alain Parant of Paris-based Futuribles was produced in conjunction with the retirement arm of the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations and the Observatoire des Retraites.