Pension offer to insure trillion budget – News

Photo: Lime / Vladimir Suvorov

The National Association of Non-State Pension Funds (NAPF) in a letter to the Ministry of Finance pointed to the need for state guarantees for each project, which invests pension savings. This, according to market participants, will increase the amount of investment of pension money in the real economy. We are talking about state guarantees for pension accumulation it, which, according to the latest data of the Central Bank, in NPF accumulated 1.5 trillion rubles. In addition to these funds manage pension reserves (formed through voluntary programs) by 0.9 trillion rubles.

In a letter to Deputy Finance Minister Yury Zubarev (a copy is in “Izvestia”) states that when investing pension savings, given their social nature, must be provided with “guaranteed refund”. This is due to the expediency and the availability of government guarantees when investing pension money in infrastructure projects (construction and modernization of roads, pipelines, water and sewage systems, power lines, airports, railway stations and so on.). Who cases state guarantees for investment projects that are implemented with the involvement of pension savings, are rare: only guarantees issued by major projects, such as such as the reconstruction of the highway M1 “Belarus”. In this case, the operator of the project – JSC “Main road” – has received from Vnesheconombank state guarantees for issues of bonds that allowed APF to buy these securities in their portfolios.

– For other projects, not pampered attention of the state, – said a member of the Board of Directors of NPF “sun. Life. Pension “Andrei Kulikov, – there is a scheme, which implies the presence of several stop-factors: the presence of a mandatory maximum reliability ratings, the issuer of bonds in the highest quotation list of exchange and so forth. For many projects, such requirements are an insurmountable obstacle, especially for those who are on the initial stage of implementation.

In the ranking of “Global Competitiveness 2014-2015″, prepared by the World Economic Forum, Russia ranked 39th place in terms of infrastructure quality (from 144 countries), and Russian the authorities aim to increase the volume of the corresponding investments – in April, the President instructed the Government and the Central Bank to develop mechanisms for channeling funds to finance the APF long-term infrastructure projects. Now there is such a mechanism, and the inability to accept the risks of the project prevents NPF actively invest in the real sector.

However, criticism of the pension investment policy and recommendations of the authorities (for example, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets) to some extent stepped funds. In early July, four APF (APF electricity, “Stalfond”, “Lukoil-Garant” and NPF “The Future”), bought the bonds at 5.5 billion rubles, issued under the infrastructure project – construction of a highway from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Earlier, 7.5 billion rubles invested in the construction of the same road NPF “VTB Pension Fund.” Also previously conducted investments in infrastructure programs of natural monopolies. In particular, the SPC “Gazfond” and “NPF Gazfond pension funds’ pension money invested in bonds of some companies – MOESK (6 billion), Railways (4 billion) and FSK (3 billion rubles). In addition, SPC participate in the equity of such companies as “UTair” (NPF “Surgutneftegas”), the port of Vanino (NPF “Welfare”) and so on. Invest as pension savings and reserves.

The annual budget of the Russian Federation in recent years – 12-15 trillion rubles, of which the amount of state guarantees granted annually amounts to several hundred billion rubles. The extent to which the authorities may decide to guarantee working in the real sector of pension savings is not yet clear. The Ministry of Finance on the request of “Izvestia” have not responded.

As stressed by the National Rating Agency analyst Jenny Lubenets, one of the principles which should guide the management of NPF pension savings – is their safety. According to her, in the preparation of the loss from the investment of pension savings funds typically reimburse its own funds.

– Investments in infrastructure projects carry some risks – in fact, the fund assumes responsibility for the development of this project. In the presence of state guarantees that responsibility borne by the state, and the risks NPF, respectively, are reduced, – says Lubenets.

Deputy Director of Corporate ratings Raex («Expert RA”) Veronica Ivanov added that early 2015 the authorities introduced a requirement for the credit rating of bonds and issuers at the highest level “A ++” on a national scale Raex.

– This restriction significantly reduces the Fund’s ability to invest savings. Establishment of a mechanism for the provision of state guarantees will improve the ability of the project to receive the highest rating of “A ++”, and therefore empower the funds to invest savings, – said Ivanov.