Investment plan for retirement funds eludes govt

(Ecns.cn) -- The Chinese government has already worked out on how to invest and operate the nation's retirement funds, but it has not yet settled on when and which plan will come into effect in the country, according to Beijing News which cited some comments by insiders Thursday.

Last week, the southern province of Guangdong won approval from the State Council to entrust 100 billion yuan of its pension fund to the National Council for Social Security Fund for two years. The NCSSF said most of the money would be placed in saving accounts or used to buy government and corporate bonds and other fixed-income securities.

These financial vehicles may not be the most exciting on the planet, but they do have the advantage of security and safety - the major priority for those operating the nation's pension fund, according to a previous report by China Daily.

In 2011, the national average monthly pension for the retired reached 1,500 yuan (US$238), according to Finance Minister Xie Xuren, but pension levels vary according to the region in which the recipient lives.

For example, Beijing has said it will soon increase the average pension to about 2,500 yuan per month, while Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has this year set the target of raising its average pension to 1,900 yuan monthly.

In response to the problem of regional variation, China intends to work out a plan to manage the massive pension fund in order to better preserve the value of the funds and support the country's aging population.