The Superintendent of Pensions Persia Alvarez told reporters that the overall deposits in pension funds has reached RD$17.6 billion and that one and a half years after beginning the program, there are already 100 pensioners that are receiving an average of RD$10,000 per month. The official said that the funds of the pension system are deposited in financial institutions because of the lack of investment instruments that were sufficiently attractive.
She also pointed out that the Superintendent’s office was looking at mortgage paper and the stock market as possible alternatives for investing the pension funds.
Regarding the RD$17.6 billion in funds, Alvarez said that RD$11.6 billion came from contributions that the different Pension Fund Administrators (AFPs) have received since the system started in June 2003, and the other RD$6.0 billion comes from monies that the funds had already acquired before start up.
Alvarez, talking to the Listin Diario journalist Candida Acosta, said that as of 31 March 2005, there were 1,280,409 workers covered by the plan, about 80% of the working force in the Dominican Republic. The Superintendent of Pensions said that the different funds had achieved 23.9% yield as of last March.