Pension assets near P100bn

Assets held by local pension funds reached P99.6 billion in September, marking their closest approach to the P100 billion psychological mark for the first time in history. Statistics released recently indicate that pension funds opened the year at P94.3 billion before reaching a low of P87.9 billion in March on the market disturbance caused by COVID-19. However, from that point, pension funds accelerated their holdings, moving to P95.4 billion in July and P99.6 billion in August. The country’s largest pension fund, the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund recently revealed that its assets had reached P73 billion by October, helped by strong offshore performance and active management by fund managers. The second largest fund, the Debswana Pension Fund (DPF), saw its assets rise by P485 million between January and September, ending the period at P8.83 billion. From an opening position of P8.35 billion at the beginning of the year, the DPF’s assets fell to P7.82 billion in March during the height of the COVID-19 uncertainty.

The fund, however, recovered to P8.52 billion by June 30, before adding another P300 million to close at P8.83 billion as at September 30. DPF chief executive officer, Gosego January said the performance was underpinned by the strong rally in global bonds, as well as local bonds, while a diversification to China had paid off, earning the DPF a 20.5% return over the three-month period to June 30.