Investments made by the Labor Pension Fund netted record gains of NT$478.5 billion (US$15.2 billion) last year, the Bureau of Labor Insurance (BOLI) said yesterday.
In a statement, the BOLI said the fund made a 12.6 percent return on investment last year, surpassing the previous high of 11.84 percent set in 2009.
Last year’s gains also exceeded the previous annual record of NT$283.7 billion from 2021, the Bureau of Labor Funds (BOLF) said, which manages the fund’s investments.
Photo: Lee Chin-hui, Taipei Times
Based on current totals, more than half of the 12.72 million people enrolled in the fund would have their pensions boosted by more than NT$20,000, with 25.1 percent gaining more than NT$50,000.
The amount each person’s pension is topped up by depends on the length of enrollment and the premium rate, the BOLI said.
Information on how gains made last year have affected enrollees’ pensions was released yesterday, the BOLI said.
Workers could view the information through various channels, such as verifications through mobile phones, citizens’ digital certificates and online labor insurance certificates, the bureau said.
Alternatively, workers could also go to BOLI offices for information about their gains last year, the bureau said.
Beginning today, workers could also check changes to their pensions using ATM cards issued by Bank Land of Taiwan, E Sun Commercial Bank, Taishin International Bank, Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank, First Commercial Bank and Chunghwa Post, the BOLI said.
As of the end of last year, the combined value of the funds managed by the BOLF, including the new Labor Pension Fund, the Labor Retirement Fund, the Labor Insurance Fund, the Employment Insurance Fund and the Arrears Wage Payment Fund, totaled NT$719.37 billion, constituting a 12.8 percent annual rate of return.
The BOLF said that about 46 percent of the gains posted by these funds last year came from investments in the local stock market.
The TAIEX, the Taiwan Stock Exchange’s weighted index, soared 26.8 percent last year on the back of enthusiasm about artificial intelligence development and expectations that the US Federal Reserve would initiate a rate-cut cycle.
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its