The Public Debt Management Agency and the Labor Ministry have asked security funds to buy government repos in order to avoid potential liquidity problems.
According to an Eleftheros Typos newspaper report, the PDMA and the Labor Ministry have asked 15 security fund organizations to invest in government repos. The total liquid assets of the 15 security funds reaches 3 billion euros.
This proposal is a way of informal internal borrowing from deposits of pension funds in exchange for short-term government securities. If security funds adopt this investment advice by PDMA and the Ministry of Labor, they will have profits of 2 percent or more annually.
According to the newspaper report, the letters to the major security funds were sent on February 17. They were addressed to the Social Security Foundation (IKA), the farmers’ insurance (OGA), the freelancers’ insurance (OAEE) and 12 other insurance funds.
However, on February 19, Greece’s Minister of Labor and Social Solidarity Panos Skourletis addressed the administration of security funds and asked them to examine the merits of the proposal discussed in the PDMA letter, in order “to make the best possible choice for investing their cash.”
The letter is not addressed to insurance organizations only, but also to all government agencies. The objective was to enhance state liquidity using the assets of insurance funds currently deposited in commercial banks.
In essence, the report says, the government proposal is that insurance funds are asked to become lenders to the state. However, the assets of insurance funds have been reduced by 53 percent. At the same time, contributions to insurance funds have dropped dramatically due to high unemployment.
At the moment, liquid assets of all insurance funds amount to 3 billion euros, while total assets do not exceed 11 billion.
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