Pensions fund reaches €10bn

THE National Pensions Reserve Fund, which will eventually be used to finance all State pensions, broke the €10 billion barrier in the first quarter of the year after earning a 2.7% return of €268 million since January.

The assets of the three-year-old fund are now equivalent to 8.7% of Gross National Product.

This growth follows a 12.8% return of €1,032m for 2003, which when combined with the contribution from the National Exchequer last year of €1,103m, and €294m so far this year, resulted in a growth of the National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF) to €10.123bn. The market value of the fund at December 31, 2003 was €9,561m, compared with €7,426m at December 31, 2002.