Japan Pension Fund Loses $61.1 Billion Due To Weak Dollar

Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) reported a major quarterly loss, driven by a weakening U.S. dollar and declines in both foreign and domestic assets, Hideyuki Sano and Nao Sano reported for the Japan Times.

GPIF, one of the world’s largest state pension funds, lost ¥8.815 trillion ($61.1 billion), or 3.4%, in the January–March quarter. I Photo: Kakidai Wikimedia Commons

GPIF, one of the world’s largest state pension funds, lost ¥8.815 trillion ($61.1 billion), or 3.4%, in the January–March quarter. Total assets stood at ¥249.8 trillion at the end of the period. On an annual basis, the fund returned 0.7%.

The loss came amid growing global trade tensions and market uncertainty fueled by rising U.S. tariffs. The outlook for U.S. interest rate cuts also dragged down the dollar against the yen, affecting GPIF’s foreign holdings.

The fund recorded losses across all four of its asset classes for the first time since the July–September quarter of 2022.

“The January–March investment performance was mainly due to a sharp decline in foreign stocks,” GPIF President Kazuto Uchida said at a press conference. “We are considering increasing the ratio of active management.”

Foreign stocks fell 6% and foreign bonds dropped 2%. Japanese stocks lost 3.5%, while domestic bonds slipped 2.2%. During the same period, the MSCI All-Country World Index declined 1.7%, the S&P 500 fell 4.6%, and Japan’s Topix dropped 4.5%.