China has for the first time disclosed the annual return of its basic pension fund investment.

我国近日首次披露了基本养老保险基金投资的年度收益。

Total return reached 8.78 billion yuan last year, with an annual return rate of 5.23%, according to new data released by the National Council for Social Security Fund (NCSSF).

全国社会保障基金理事会（社保基金会）发布的最新数据显示，2017年，基本养老保险基金投资收益总额达87.8亿元，年收益率5.23%。

This is the first time for the NCSSF to publicize its annual yield since local governments began entrusting¹ the fund in December 2016 with running parts of their vast pool of pension assets for higher yields.

2016年12月，地方政府开始委托社保基金会运营其规模庞大的养老金资产池中可投资部分以寻求更高收益，这是受托以来社保基金会首次公布其年收益。

Locally-managed pension funds in China are traditionally stored in banks or used to purchase treasury² bills with annual yields up to 2-3 percent, which were close to the so-called risk-free rate that is far below the market average and often depreciated³ due to inflation.

在我国，地方管理的养老保险基金通常是存在银行，或是用来购买年收益率达2-3%的国债。这些方式的收益接近于所谓的无风险利率，但远低于市场平均水平，并且经常因通货膨胀而贬值。

"The return was nearly two percentage points higher than the risk-free interest rate in the capital market within the same period and reflects the advantage of concentrated investment in the form of funds," Guan Bo, an associate researcher with a government-run institute, said.

一家公立研究院的副研究员关博表示：“这一收益高于同期资本市场无风险利率水平近2个百分点，基金集中投资优势得到充分显现。”

NCSSF data also showed the basic pension fund had total assets worth 315.52 billion yuan by the end of last year, while outstanding liabilities stood at 33.62 billion yuan.

社保基金会的数据还显示，截至2017年末，基本养老保险基金资产总额3155.2亿元，负债余额336.2亿元。