China's pension fund seeks to grow asset base
Call for more investment comes amid forecasts of severe funding shortfall in next two decades
China's state pension fund has renewed its calls for an expansion of its assets under management to meet a growing need for pensions as society ages.
The fund's party secretary, Dai Xianglong, was quoted by Xinhua yesterday as saying that the central government should transfer 30 per cent of capital gains it receives from state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF).
The government should also transfer any of its shareholdings in SOEs in excess of 51 per cent to the pension fund, Dai said. SOEs currently assign 10 per cent of their shares to the fund during their initial public offerings.
He said the NSSF hopes its assets under management will grow to three trillion yuan (HK$3.8 trillion) by 2020 from 890 billion yuan now.
The call highlights the pension fund's ambition to expand at a time when China has difficulty in meeting expected future pension liabilities
"The call highlights the pension fund's ambition to expand at a time when China has difficulty in meeting expected future pension liabilities," said Hu Xingdou, an economist at the Beijing Institute of Technology.