The CPP Investment Board says that for the three months ending Sept. 30, 2003, assets available to the Canada Pension Plan earned $1.8 billion, producing a rate of return of 2.8%.

For the six months ending September 30, assets available to the CPP earned $4.9 billion, for a 8.4% rate of return.

The total CPP portfolio, which includes contributions to the CPP net of benefits paid, grew to $64.4 billion, an increase of $2.8 billion for the quarter.

At September 30, 2003, the assets of the CPP consisted of $27.4 billion in equities and real estate managed by the CPP Investment Board in Toronto, and $37 billion in fixed-income securities administered by the Department of Finance in Ottawa.

The CPP Investment Board portfolio, which accounts for 43 % of the total CPP portfolio, consisted of 89% public equities, 6% private equities, 3% cash and 2 % real estate. For the three months ending September 30, 2003, these assets earned $1.4 billion for a return of 5.4 %. For the six months ending September 30, 2003, these assets earned $3.1 billion for a return of 14.5%.

The fixed income securities, which makes up 57 % of the total CPP portfolio, consisted of $30.6 billion in federal and provincial government bonds and $6.4 billion in an interest bearing cash deposit. For the three months ending September 30, 2003, these assets earned $411 million for a return of 0.9%. For the six months ending September 30, 2003, fixed income securities earned $1.8 billion for a return of 4.9 %.

“While I’m again heartened by the most recent quarterly numbers, the CPP Investment Board is not investing for quarterly results. We are investing for quarter-century results,” said John MacNaughton, president and CEO, CPP Investment Board, in a news release “We are patient, long-term investors. Our strategy of steadily diversifying the fund into asset classes with higher return expectations continues.”

Based on actuarial projections, CPP contributions are expected to exceed benefits until 2021, providing an 18-year period before a portion of the investment income is needed to help pay CPP benefits.