Fin24 reports that Abel Sithole, principal executive officer of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), said on Tuesday that the fund was “over-exposed” to the South African economy and this needed to be addressed.  

The GEPF had an exposure of close to R500bn in local bonds issued by government and state-owned entities (SOEs) as at the end of March 2017, Parliament heard.  Its exposure in Eskom alone was R84bn.  The standing committee on finance had invited the GEPF and the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which manages the GEPF’s assets valued at R1.67trn, to a meeting to answer questions from members.  The GEPF said the fund – “like any other pension fund in the country” – invested in government and parastatal (SOE) bonds.  The DA’s David Maynier asked the GEPF whether, given the exposure to government and SOE bonds, it had any plans to mitigate the risk should SA’s sovereign credit rating be downgraded further later this month.  Dan Matjila, PIC CEO, said in response that the issue of downgrades was “a difficult one”.  He did not elaborate on any specific plans, but added:  “The PIC is finalising our policy on how to approach entities and the minimum governance requirements to invest on behalf of clients.”

• Read this report by Liesl Peyper in full at Fin24
• See too, GEPF: ‘Bid dat ons nie afgegradeer word’, at Netwerk24 (limit on access)

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