The CPP fund grew by $600 million to $98.6 billion during the first quarter ended June 30.

For the three-month period, the CPP fund had a negative rate of return of 2.5%, or a decline of $2.5 billion, while the fund added $3.1 billion from CPP contributions not needed to pay current pensions.

“Our investment returns reflect the decline in Canadian and global equity markets that occurred during the quarter,” said David Denison, president and CEO, CPP Investment Board, in a news release. “Given that the composition of our portfolio is designed to generate long-term returns required to help sustain the CPP over multiple generations, this kind of short-term volatility in markets and returns is expected.”

At June 30, the CPP fund consisted of 58.5% ($57.7 billion) of publicly traded stocks, 25.7% ($25.3 billion) of government bonds, 9.6% ($9.6 billion) of real return assets, 5% ($4.9 billion) of private equity and 1.2% ($1.1 billion) in cash and cash equivalents.

CPP contributions are expected to exceed annual benefits paid until 2022, providing a 16-year period before a portion of the investment income is needed to help pay CPP benefits. Over the next 10 years, the Chief Actuary of Canada estimates that the CPP fund will grow to approximately $250 billion, making it one of the largest single purpose pools of investment capital in the world.

The CPP Investment Board invests the funds not needed by the Canada Pension Plan to pay current benefits. Its fiscal year is from April 1 to March 31.