Social security investment returns down sharply

The equity investment returns of China's social security fund decreased sharply in 2011 to 0.84 percent from 4.23 percent in 2010, driving the fund manager to focus future plans on industrial sectors, the annual report of the fund holder said.

By the end of last year, the total asset value managed by the National Council for the Social Security Fund was 868.8 billion yuan ($136.5 billion), including a 504.1 billion yuan direct investment asset that accounted for 58.02 percent of the whole capital, the report said.

China's gloomy stock markets in 2011, with the Shanghai Composite Index dropping more than 20 percent, was a drag on the investment returns of the fund, analysts said.

“The fund will boost industrial investment and support real economic development in the future,” said the council. The industrial investment part may increase to 250 billion yuan in the next three years, almost double of the current amount.

The National Council for the Social Security Fund started investing in shares in June 2003.

The cumulative return of the share investment was 132.6 billion yuan in the past eight years, 46 percent of the total earned by the fund, the report said.

Dai Xianglong, chairman of the National Council for the Social Security Fund, said earlier that investment in stocks should be very cautious, aiming to get long-term and stable returns.

chenjia1@chinadaily.com.cn