The Government Pension Investment Fund earned ¥2.4 trillion through management of its reserve fund in fiscal 2018 for a rate of return of 1.5 percent, according to its report released in early July. It suffered an appraisal loss of ¥14.8 trillion in the October-December period due to sharp falls in Japanese and overseas stock markets, but the GPIF's whole-year earnings became positive thanks to the recovery in share prices in the January-March quarter, which brought ¥9.1 trillion in earnings.
As it has long been pointed out, arguing over performance of the public pension fund over a short cycle like a quarter or a year is extremely inappropriate since they are supposed to be managed over a very long term.
Some members of the opposition camp have criticized the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for exposing the public pension reserve — the assets of the people — to danger by reducing the share of Japanese government bonds while increasing that of Japanese and foreign shares as well as foreign bonds in the asset allocation of the GPIF.