China will fully guarantee timely payments of future pensions and sustainable healthy operation of the pension system, a government official said Tuesday, correcting a misleading report on Monday which said that China's pension pot will run dry in 2035, citing research from April.
The report has misinterpreted the situation of China's pension institutions, said an official from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS), according to domestic news website bjnews.com.
The comment came after Beijing-based news outlet chinatimes.net.cn reported that those born in the 1980s could be the first generation to not receive a full pension upon retirement.
The report cited research by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), which said that the urban worker pension fund is predicted to drop to zero by 2035.
However, "the central government can fully guarantee the pension funds will be paid on time and in full," the official said.
Nie Mingjun, an official at the MOHRSS said in April that there are structural conflicts among different regions regarding the pension.
But China is promoting a series of reform measures to ensure the sustainable and healthy development of the pension systems, he added.
As of the end of 2018, China's endowment insurance fund in enterprises reached 4.78 trillion yuan ($694 billion), which provides a stronger guarantee, Nie said.
China established a strategic reserve fund for social security funds since 2000, which is continuing to grow, reaching 2 trillion yuan, Nie said in April.
The CASS report used an international standard to calculate the fund, and the result is similar to many developed countries with a high level public welfare, Dong Dengxin, an expert in pension policies told the Global Times on Tuesday.
"The intent of producing such theoretical research is to alert the government to make policy adjustments, instead of stirring up public panic to sell pension-related financial products," Dong said.
