Fund’s plan to push local investment backed

Acting Gov. Diego T. Benavente said he fully supports the NMI Retirement Fund’s plan to invest more in the local economy.

In his remarks during yesterday’s signing of the Retirement Fund Month, Benavente said he is aware that the Fund’s trustees “have put in a lot of time examining current investments and determining the future direction of the Fund.”

“I also know that you have a special interest in local investment, a move I am very much in favor of,” he said.

Under its investment strategy, the Fund needs to make available 15 percent of its assets to “economically targeted investments” in the CNMI.

These include housing loans to members, building rentals such as the Judiciary building and the PSS building, and other loans to the Commonwealth Credit Union.

Currently, Fund administrator Karl T. Reyes said that local investments only amount to 12 to 13 percent of the Fund’s total portfolio.

“But we want to reach 15 percent. We need to,” he said.

He said the Fund’s investment strategies have been badly affected by the government’s huge debt to the agency, with the unfunded liability now reportedly reaching $500 million, plus the government’s failure to remit its retirement contribution of at least $850,000 per pay period on time.

In the meantime, Benavente noted that pension benefit payments reached a high of $42.23 million in 2003, an 8.7 percent increase compared with the previous year.

“This board has diligently created an investment portfolio that will protect our government workers for many years to come,” said Benavente.

In terms of investments, the Fund administrator said that the agency recorded a total of $375 million assets as of July 2004.

“It’s picking up compared to last year and the previous years,” he said, noting that the Fund registered its lowest total investment of $298 million in 2000 and 2001.

The NMIRF, which was established on Oct. 1, 1980, managed to grow its total assets from $3 million to $415 million in a 24-year span.

The Fund was set up to provide retirement security and other benefits to government employees, their spouses, and dependents.

NMIRF also administers the Workers’ Compensation Commission and the Government Group Health and Life Insurance Trust Fund, programs that aim to protect employees in the NMI from potentially devastating financial impact of injury or illness.

At present, the NMIRF has 7,803 members.