According to the Na- tional Social Insurance Fund Budget for 2015 released by the Ministry of Finance at the beginning of May， stripping out fiscal subsidies， Chinas pension insurance deficit is expected to exceed 300 billion yuan.

However， the data conflict with the statement by Bai Jingming， deputy director of the Fiscal Science Research Institute of the Ministry of Finance.

“The pension surplus has accumulated to over 3 trillion yuan，” said Bai Jingming during an interview a month earlier. “To be sure， the country has enough pension annuities， so it is no need to worry about a deficit.”

The gap between the data from the Ministry of Finance and Bais statement is due to the difference in statistical standards adopted， according to an insider. Currently， Chinas pension system is shifting from the pay-as-yougo system to the social fund plus individual account system which means combination of social pool and individual account.

“From the perspective of the pay-as-you-go system， there is a pension deficit. However， from the perspective of long-term development， there is no pension deficit and the surplus will increase year by year. However， some provinces suffered a seri- ous pension deficit，” said a policy researcher

It is an undeniable fact that the capital of Chinas pension is operated rather prudently. In March， the Peoples Government of Shangdong Province decided to transfer 30% of state-own assets to the social insurance fund， becoming the first province in China to allow such transfer， which won a lot of praises from experts.

“Given the current circumstances， Chinas infrastructure investment has a considerable profit return，” said Li Shehuan， associate professor at the Institute of Finance under Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

“In a bid to improve the investment efficiency of pension annuities， the government should moderately loosen the regulation， such as allowing pensions into the transportation industry and further extensively allotting the securities in the capital market.”

The statement was made at the international forum on the public policy challenge and governance innovation in an aging society hosted by Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

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