Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund was dethroned as the world’s biggest pool of retirement savings as a depreciating yen eroded the value of its assets in dollar terms.

The fund posted a record gain for the three months through March, generating a 9.5% return, but the yen’s slump to a 38-year low against the greenback was deep enough to put the value of its assets below that of Norway’s wealth fund in dollar terms.

Government Pension Investment Fund, Tokyo, posted a 22.7% annual return for its financial year ended March 31, bringing assets to ¥245.98 trillion ($1.63 trillion), the fund said on July 5.

The return marks record asset growth for GPIF of ¥45.42 trillion, followed closely by its fiscal 2020 result that saw a 25.2% return, which added ¥37.8 trillion to the fund’s assets. GPIF is the world’s largest pension fund.

GPIF’s equity portfolio led the fund’s returns, with domestic equities gaining 41.4% and foreign equities at 40%. Foreign bonds also had a positive return at 15.8%, while domestic bonds had a -2% return.

The fund’s portfolio was evenly distributed across all four asset classes. Domestic equities comprised 24.33% of the portfolio, foreign equities 24.86%, foreign bonds 23.86%, and domestic bonds 26.95%.

GPIF also had 1.46% of its portfolio invested in alternatives. The time-weighted investment rate of return on private equity was 21.5% in Japanese yen terms. The return on infrastructure and real estate was 6.5%, which included foreign exchange adjustment factors that amounted to -7.86%.

Read more @Bloomberg & P&I