(ECNS) — China's social security fund is stable overall despite deficits in certain places, said You Jun, vice minister of Human Resources and Social Security at a press conference on Monday.
The total social security fund -- which consists of five major social security insurance programs, including medical and unemployment -- stood at nearly 7.6 trillion yuan at the end of last year, compared with 6.6 trillion yuan in 2016 and 5.9 trillion yuan in 2015.
Pension funds drew 3.27 trillion yuan in revenue in 2017 while gross expenditure hit 2.86 trillion, creating a balance of 418.7 billion yuan, You said.
The account balance now stood at 4.12 trillion yuan, enough for payments of pensions to company retirees for 17.3 months, according to the official.
He also said government at all levels invested 1 trillion yuan in social security in 2016, accounting for 5.72 percent of the country's total expenditure, up 1.38 percentage points.
However, the percentage was not high comparatively as some countries expenditures on social security accounts were more than 20 percent, it was added.
You said the current social security system had not been placed under an overall coordinated national system - the pension fund was managed at provincial level and medical insurance at city level, so regions faced different financial pressures.
However, there was no problem with insurance payments in general across the country, although pension fund surpluses in some regions are temporarily unable to cover payments.
