Finance Ministry concerned about pension fund's operations on financial market
The Russian Finance Ministry is concerned about the development of the financial market with the involvement of the investments from the pension system, Bella Zlatkis, Deputy Finance Minister, told reporters today. The Deputy Finance Minister was quoted as saying "after approving pension laws the financial market has changed drastically, since a large institutional investor with great funds emerged there, which is capable of influencing the entire sector of the financial market".
However, the Finance Ministry "is limiting the participation of the Pension Fund to protect market participants' interests: the fund is allowed to operate on the financial market after an auction and can use a weighted-average price", the official said. The Deputy Finance Minister reiterated that this year the Pension Fund would invest RUR16bn (around $506m) into federal bonds (GKO), while in 2003 the Pension Fund's investments would total RUR46bn (around $1.45bn).
As it was reported earlier, the Pension Fund's investments will be RUR104bn (around $3.29bn) in 2002.
