China's National Social Security Fund (NSSF) will need at least US$200 billion in assets within five to 10 years to meet pension needs, according to its chairman. Xiang Huaicheng told a conference in Hong Kong that, although the fund aims for average annual growth of at least 5%, this will not fully cover China's ageing population. It is the first time the US$42 billion NSSF, which was set up in 2000, has outlined its investment targets, the Financial Times reported. Xiang said that there was insufficient data to accurately predict the country's pension deficit. He believes the fund will have to be used to cover shortfalls by 2035 as the ageing problem peaks. The World Bank estimates that China's implicit pension debt – the present value of all financial promises made to people – is 70-140% of GDP.
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