Assets of the mainland's national pension fund expanded 10 per cent last year to 856.7 billion yuan (HK$1.02 trillion), helped by contributions from state-owned companies and a modest investment return.
The National Social Security Fund said yesterday it achieved a 4.23 per cent, or 32.1 billion yuan, investment return last year, including a realised gain of 42.6 billion yuan and unrealised loss of 10.5 billion yuan.
Since the fund's establishment in 2000, the annual average investment return has stood at 9.17 per cent, compared with average annual inflation of 2.14 per cent, the fund said in its annual report.
Economists said the huge assets controlled by the fund and its influence on international capital markets called for a transparent and scientific system for performance evaluation.
'With such huge investable capital, the fund is closely watched by all kinds of participants in domestic and overseas markets,' Chinese Academy of Social Sciences researcher Yi Xianrong said.
'The fund should have a transparent benchmark so the public can measure its performance.'
Fund chairman Dai Xianglong has said the fund aimed to add more than 100 billion yuan this year and projected the fund would hit one trillion yuan in 2011 and 1.5 trillion yuan by 2015.