BELGIUM – The Belgian pension fund association says that, on current trends, Belgian pension funds could return around 6.5% in 2003.

The Association Belge des Institutions de Pension said in a statement that Belgian funds returned 3.18% in the first six months of 2003 – compared to a decline of 5.81% in the same period last year.

It said that the figures correspond to an annualised return of 6.46% if current trends continue.

At the end of 2002, ABIP said, Belgian funds were on average 43% invested in equities.

It added that the improvement was due to an ongoing correction in the equity and bond markets.