BEIJING, Dec. 15 -- China's Ministry of Labor and Social Security announced Friday that pension fund for retirees of enterprises will be increased starting Jan. 1 next year, reported the Beijing News.

    The raise of pension this time is higher than that of the year 2007 and the increased amount will be delivered to retirees before the Chinese Spring Festival early February.

    Officials with Ministry of Labor and Social Security said that they based the growth of pension fund on how long and how much the retirees had contributed to their individual pension accounts.

    On a conference held on the adjustment of pension fund for enterprises' retirees Friday, the authorities also called for further expansion of insurance coverage and more efforts in collecting pension fund.

    At present, China has over 40 million retirees from enterprises. China has been raising the pension fund for three years between 2005 and 2007, and will continue raising it in the coming three years, with a higher margin compared with the previous increases.

    Sources revealed that the raise of per-capital monthly pension fund for enterprises' retirees has reached about 90 yuan (12 U.S. dollars) this year. It is expected that the monthly pension fund will exceed 1,200 yuan by 2010.

    (Source: CRIENLISH.com)