Only 2.2 percent of the national pension fund's total assets has been invested in private equity funds by the end of last year and there is room for the national fund to make more PE investment, a senior official of the fund said Wednesday.

Speaking at a financial conference, Wang Zhongmin, vice chairman of the National Council for Social Security Fund, said the percentage of investment in PE is lower than the 10 percent it is allowed to invest.

"It gives the national pension fund a big room to invest more in private equity," Wang said.

With over 868.9 billion yuan (US$137.8 billion) in assets since it was formed, the council can invest a maximum of 86.8 billion yuan in PE. Wang did not reveal the amount of investment the council has made in PE by the end of last year.

The pension fund council said about 70 percent of the 43.1 billion yuan investment income last year came from direct and PE investments.

In the US, pensions funds allocate 40 percent into venture capital and PE investments, said a recent report by research company Zero2IPO.

"With changes in the international and domestic economies, China's pension fund may gradually expand the scope of investment," the report said.

Dai Xianglong, the council's chairman, said in February that the fund has a good return from PE investment and "it will have better prospects in the next two to three years."

Source:china.org