Total assets managed by the private pension system end-March accounted for 5.5% of gross domestic product, he said.
The mandatory private pension system (Pillar II) had 7.31 million contributors end-March, 0.81% higher from end-December 2018. In the first quarter, the system registered 60,000 new participants, 14.75% fewer than in the first quarter of 2018 (70,000 new participants).
The voluntary private pension system (Pillar III) had 479,700 contributors at the end of March, 1.25% more compared with the end of December. In the first quarter, the system registered 9,455 new contributors, 8.88% more than in the first quarter of 2018 (8,675 new contributors).
Badea said legislation changes have allowed fund administrators to invest pension fund assets in new financial instruments such as joint-ventures for projects developed under public-private partnerships or investment funds specialized in funding infrastructure projects (up to 15% of assets); securities issued by real estate companies (up to 3% of assets); private capital investments (up to 10% of assets).
“All these changes widen the investment spectrum available to private pension fund administrators, contributing to their development,” said Badea.
At the end of the first quarter, private pension funds had invested 61.30% of assets in state paper, 18.32% in equity and 20.38% in other financial instruments.