The Contributory Pension Scheme which had maintained a steady rise since inception as the fastest growing fund in the economy fell by N7bn in January 2021.
Figures obtained by our correspondent from the National Pension Commission on its report titled ‘unaudited report on pension funds industry portfolio for the period ended 31 January 2021’ revealed on Thursday.
The report showed figures on Approved Existing Schemes, Closed Pension Fund Administrators, and RSA funds (including unremitted funds).
The CPS introduced through the Pension Reform Act was commenced in 2004.
According to the figures, the pension assets which ended December 2020 at N12.306tn fell to N12.299tn as of the end of January.
The bulk of the funds were invested in the Federal Government’s securities.
According to the figures, in January, N8.1tn was invested in FGN securities including FGN bonds, treasury bills, agency bonds SUKUK and green bonds.
Other investment portfolios were domestic and foreign ordinary shares; corporate debt securities comprising of corporate bonds, corporate infrastructure bonds, corporate green bonds and supra-national bonds.
The funds were also invested in local money market securities comprising of bank placements, commercial papers and foreign money market securities.
The Pension Fund Administrators invested the rest in mutual funds comprising open/close-end funds, REITs, real estate properties, private equity funds, infrastructure funds, cash and other assets.
Contributors under the scheme, however, rose slightly to 9.24 million in January from 9.22 million in December.
Despite the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, the CPS assets rose by N2.1tn to N12.3tn as of 2020 from N10.2tn as of the end 2019.
