‘Pension fund assets account for six per cent of GDP’

The National Bureau of Statistics has disclosed that the total asset under the management of the Nigeria Pension Fund (NPF) as at December 31, 2016 accounted for six per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

In a statement released recently in Abuja, the NBS noted that the total asset as at the period under review represents six per cent of the GDP as against 5.57 per cent in 2015, adding that 98.56 per cent of the funds were invested in domestic market while the remaining 1.44 per cent were invested in foreign market.

The NBS also said that the Nigerian Pension Fund Administration Data for 2016 reflected that the Pension Fund Asset under Management as at 31 December, 2016 stood at N6,164.76bn as against N5,302.82bn in 2015.

The Bureau further disclosed that the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) debt securities has the highest weight percentage of 71.28 per cent of the total pension fund assets and closely followed by ordinary shares with 9.48 per cent weight and money market securities with 6.51 per cent weight while infrastructure funds has the least with 0.03 per cent weight.

NBS explained that participants within the age distribution below 40 years had the highest percentage composition by sector and gender, closely followed by participants within the age brackets of 40-49 years and 50-59 years respectively, adding that participants above 60years has the least percentage composition by sector and gender.