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The net Bt367 million return consists of Bt222 million in unre¬alised gains and Bt145 million in cash dividends.

The Social Security Office (SSO), the administrator of the Social Security Fund, had earlier reported a 9.40percent return on total assets of Bt568 billion (about US$16 billion) last year.

About Bt24 billion of the fund, or 4.2 per cent of total assets, has been allocated to global fixedincome instruments, mainly highgrade government bonds.

The foreign investment portfolio generated positive results in a year when investors were seeking a safe haven in government bonds, push¬ing bond yields throughout the world to record lows.

Of the Bt24 billion foreign investment portfolio, 86 per cent is now parked in highly secured assets - 8 per cent in cash, 48 per cent in foreign government bonds, 26 per cent in governmentrelated bonds and 4 per cent in securitised bonds.

The remaining 14 per cent of the foreign investment portfolio is in highgrade corporate bonds.

The overall quality of the portfo¬lio remains high, with 65 per cent of the bonds rated "AAA", the highest rating.

The SSO maintains a conserva¬tive policy, requiring all foreign bonds to be investment grade, rated "BBB" or higher. The SSO has no exposure in global equities, which suffered a 40percent loss last year.

The SSO's inhouse economic team believes that the global econ¬omy will likely turn around some¬time in 2010 or 2011.

The SSO's plan to invest more overseas has been put on hold until it sees a clear signal from the mar¬ket.

The SSO's fastgrowing Oldage Pension Fund is expected to top Bt1 trillion in 2014.

The SSO's board has already set up a committee to study investment opportunities in alternative assets, such as commodities, real estate, infrastructure and private equity.