Public Capital Redemption Fund Lost 14 Trillion Won Last Year

It was found out that 49 funds, including the National Pension Fund, which were raised last year showed a total loss of more than six trillion won.

The loss was caused by 17 funds, including the Public Capital Redemption Fund, that lost over 16 trillion won.

In a report released by the National Assembly Budget Office titled, “Analysis of 2003 Fund Settlements,” 49 funds which are the subject of National Assembly deliberation lost 6.34 trillion won last year.

Although 32 funds, including the National Pension Fund, made a profit of 9.91 trillion won, the other 17 funds, including the Public Capital Redemption Fund, lost 16.25 trillion won. Particularly, the loss that the Public Capital Redemption Fund posted was about 14 trillion won, and it was the major reason for the funds deficit.

It was shown that the amount of money that the government had used to support the four major funds—the National Pension Fund, the Government Employees Pension Fund, the Private Education Fund, and the Military Pension Fund—was 4.16 trillion won.

The government supported the funds with an extra 686.1 billion won over the amount they were told by the Court to provide to the Government Employees Pension Fund and the Military Pension Fund. The accumulated loss made by those two funds since 1999 is 2.72 trillion won. It can be deduced that every person in the country has paid an extra 11,300 won in taxes to make up the loss.

According to the “Evaluation of Fund Applications in 2003” released by the Ministry of Planning and Budget, the Medical Emergency Fund ranked last among all of the funds due to its lack of expertise and risk management.

This evaluation was used to evaluate 26 funds, which showed poor results in the evaluation held in 2002, out of 59 funds, and was conducted by non-government experts.

The National Housing Fund ranked last among the four major funds with more than 200 billion won in surplus, due to its insufficient diversification of consignment and financial products.

On the other side, the Electric Industry Foundation Fund, Employment Promotion for the Disabled and Vocational Rehabilitation Fund, and the International Relations Fund each ranked the highest in their fields.

Based on the results of the evaluation, the Ministry of Planning and Budget will be adjusting their plan to employ next year’s funds and decide the maximum expenditures of each fund in 2006.

Ji-Wan Cha cha@donga.com