The nation's giant pension manager is unrepentant after a push into equities saw the fund post its worst quarterly result since at least 2008.
There is no reason to doubt the ¥135.1 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund's investment strategy, officials said on Monday in Tokyo as they unveiled a ¥7.9 trillion loss for the three months through September. The slump was GPIF's first negative return after revamping allocations last October, when it doubled holdings of Japanese and foreign shares.
The loss will test the resolve of the fund's stewards and of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who called for the shift out of bonds to riskier assets such as equities as the government tries to spur inflation.