Pension reform continues to be big news in Eastern Europe. This week, the Czech government's economic advisory council recommended that private-sector pensions be beefed up, by transferring in some of the contributions that workers are currently paying into the state scheme. The move is the reverse of what is happening across the border in Hungary.

The Czech proposal - due to be decided on by the government early next year - fits what has been the template for pensions reform in Eastern Europe. Under a model first proposed by the World Bank in the aftermath of the collapse of communism, existing generous state systems are privatised through the gradual transfer of state pension contributions into private funds.