SWEDEN - Annual performance of funds accessible through Swedish pension system the Premium Pension Authority (PPM) more than halved in 2007.

Kristina Kamp, spokeswoman for the fund, told IPE the performance slumped from the 12% in 2006 to 5.6% in 2007, mainly because of a bad year in the performance of Swedish stocks.

"Around 30% of our assets are still invested in Swedish equity, therefore the result for 2007 was lower," she said, though adding the fund is still very satisfied with the result.

The PPM system's total assets now stand at SKR308bn (€32.8bn).

In November, the authority said net lending has been put at SEK26bn (€2.8bn) in 2007, almost 50% less than last year.

Around 28% of this amount will go into the national buffer funds, Mats Öberg, chief economist of the fund, told IPE at the time.

Approximately SEK50bn was placed in the fund in 2006, amounting to around 1.9% of the nation's gross domestic product.

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