South Africa\u2019s intentions to tap state workers\u2019 pension funds to revive a struggling economy would be strongly opposed, the Sunday Times reports, citing a major trade group on pensions.<\/p>\n
The state workers\u2019 pension funds lobby group doesn\u2019t trust government investing pension funds to bail out struggling state-owned companies such as utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd, said Adamus Stemmet, spokesman for the Association of Monitoring and Advocacy of Government Pensions. The investments wouldn\u2019t yield positive returns, Stemmet told the weekly.<\/p>\n
President Cyril Ramaphosa told Parliament on Aug. 22 the nation must debate the use of prescribed assets to rejuvenate investment and boost tepid economic growth. Continuing to invest pension funds in the debt-laden state-owned utility Eskom, for example, would result in further losses, Stemmet said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we could have trusted the government, this might have been an option,\u201d Stemmet said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we cannot trust this government; there would be a negative return on any money invested in Eskom or any other state-owned enterprise.\u201d<\/p>\n
South Africa\u2019s Public Investment Corporation, which manages about $150 billion on behalf of state workers, is under pressure to adopt a mandate that includes economic growth rather than focus purely on financial returns.<\/p>\n