The PIC is the ready solution to SA’s debt crisis
Government borrowing from the fund instead of the IMF makes for a win-win situation
Albert Einstein defined madness as expecting different results after repeating the same action. A definition of Einsteinian sanity would thus be the need to do something completely different to achieve something never before achieved. The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) manages assets of R2.084-trillion (March 2018), 87% of which belongs to the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF). The government-controlled PIC has invested R488.4bn of the GEPF’s money in interest-bearing bonds — that is, loans to the government and state-owned companies. With 50% of GEPF’s assets held in shares, the fund was good for R1.673bn in March 2017. Another 8% of the funds managed by the PIC belongs to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF). With unemployment being so shockingly — and persistently — high, the UIF has nonetheless somehow managed to accumulate a surprisingly large sum of R180bn in assets which, along with the GEPF, is similarly managed by the PIC. The UIF allows for an easy implementat...
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.