GEPF bemoans mandatory high exposure to JSE
Government Employees Pension Fund seeks to diversify its offshore investments to more than the current 10%
The fund responsible for managing R1.8-trillion of government workers’ pensions says the worst performance by the JSE in a decade knocked its investment returns in the year ended March 2019. The Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), which is seeking permission from the National Treasury to increase its allocation to offshore investments, said it will report a drop in its investment performance for the first time in four years after increasing investment returns from 4% in 2016 to 8.5% in 2018. The GEPF’s principal officer, Abel Sithole, said the fund was still in discussion with the Treasury and the two parties have not reached an agreement on whether it can take more assets offshore. Having more assets invested outside of SA might have insulated the GEPF from the JSE losses but not much from markets’ performance point of view as the the MSCI world index also closed the year down 8.7%, while the Dow Jones Industrial also fell 3.5%. Nevertheless, Sithole said more offshore expo...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.