The average value of units of second-pillar pension funds, which have more than 1.067 million participants, last year rose by 11.21 percent and that of third-pillar funds was up by 11.05 percent, the Bank of Lithuania said on Thursday.
"Even though 2012 was a turbulent year for financial markets and investment values fluctuated sharply, pension funds managed to provide positive results for their participants," said Vilius Šapoka, the director of the central bank's Financial Services and Markets Supervision Department.
Among second-pillar funds, the value of units of funds with high exposure to equities last year jumped by 13.06 percent on average and that of medium exposure funds was up by 12.24 percent. The value of units of low exposure funds increased by 10.94 percent and that of conservative investment pension fund units was up by 6.47 percent.
Thirty second-pillar pension funds operated in Lithuania at the end of last year. The value of their net assets increased by 726.5 million litas over the year to reach 4.8 billion litas in late December.
The state social insurance fund Sodra last year transferred just over 300 million litas to second-pillar pension funds, which means that the funds earned nearly 426 million litas thanks to their good investment performance, the central bank said.
Third-pillar pension funds, which have more than 28,600 participants, last year saw their net asset value rise by almost 15 million litas to 108.4 million litas.
In the second pillar, employees can divert a certain portion of their compulsory social insurance contributions to private pension funds, while in the third pillar, they can make voluntary additional contributions to private pension funds.
