Premier Paula Cox this morning released figures showing Government’s pension funds were increasing in value by more than 14 percent.She said: “Last year was a favourable year for asset returns with practically all asset classes returning positive returns. I am pleased to report that as of December 31, 2010, the Contributory Pension Fund’s assets totaled $1.38 billion, an increase of about $178 million, while the Public Service Superannuation Fund’s assets totaled $453.0 million, an increase of approximately $55.6 million.”According to the Premier, the Contributory Pension and Superannuation Plans’ were up 14.9 percent and 15.1 percent respectively, ranking in the 11th and seventh percentile of Public Funds.Ms Cox added: “In this regard, it is pleasing to note that Government’s investment strategy for pension fund assets is achieving decent results. In 2001, the Government, under the advice of the Public Funds Investment Committee and our Investment Consultant, implemented an asset diversification strategy which substantially reduced the prior strategy’s exposure to the publicly traded stock markets.”She said the 2001 strategy implemented a much more balanced allocation within the various sectors of both the global stock and bond markets and added alternative investment strategies that have substantially improved the Public Funds’ risk-adjusted returns.Largely as a result of this diversification strategy, in spite of a challenging investment environment, the Public Funds’ assets continue to perform admirably, and rank in the top ten percent of public funds over the eight-year period, added the Premier.She said: “I would like to commend the Public Funds Investment Committee, the technical officers from the Ministry of Finance, the Accountant General’s Department, and our Investment Consultant, New England Pension Consultants, for their sterling work in providing prudent oversight of the investments held in trust in respect of the Public Funds.”