PROVISIONS

a) Provisions



	As at December 31, 2018		As at December 31, 2017
Environmental rehabilitation (“PER”)		$2,726		$2,944
Post-retirement benefits	42		48
Share-based payments	26		37
Other employee benefits	22		27
Other	88		85
		$2,904		$3,141

b) Environmental Rehabilitation



	2018			2017
At January 1		$3,096			$2,246
PERs divested during the year	—			(31		)
Closed Sites
Impact of revisions to expected cash flows recorded in earnings	(30		)	46
Settlements
Cash payments	(48		)	(41		)
Settlement gains	(2		)	(1		)
Accretion	13			12
Operating Sites
PER revisions in the year	(247		)	836
Settlements
Cash payments	(18		)	(18		)
Settlement gains	(1		)	(1		)
Accretion	74			48
At December 31		$2,837			$3,096
Current portion (note 24)	(111		)	(152		)
		$2,726			$2,944

The eventual settlement of substantially all PERs estimated is expected to take place between 2019 and 2058.

The total PER has decreased in the fourth quarter of 2018 by $109 million primarily due to changes in discount rates combined with changes in cost estimates at our Pascua-Lama, Pierina, Veladero, Hemlo and Golden Sunlight properties. For the year ended December 31, 2018, our PER balance decreased by $259 million primarily due to changes in discount rates. A 1% increase in the discount rate would result in a decrease in PER by $322 million and a 1% decrease in the discount rate would result in an increase in PER by $398 million, while holding the other assumptions constant.