Government is set to write off the entire $44 million owed to the Consolidated Fund by the Public Service Superannuation Fund (PSSF), Finance Minister Paula Cox confirmed yesterday.

The move, while not solving the challenges faced by the PSSF, will certainly relieve some of the immediate pressure on that fund, she added.

Meanwhile, an actuarial study on the state of the PSSF is expected to be completed ?soon?, the Minister said. The study itself is not something that would necessarily be released to the public, she added, however policy decisions made on the basis of that report will rapidly follow its completion.

In her Budget Statement on Friday, Ms Cox said Government was to write off a ?significant portion? of the $44 million owed by the PSSF ? the pension plan for civil servants ? to the Consolidated Fund.

Yesterday she clarified that ?significant portion? meant all of it.

On previous occasions she has noted that the greatest challenge for the fund lays in how to pay out benefits which were previously paid out of the Consolidated Fund under other pension acts ? the challenge which led to the request for actuarial help.

Pensions acts such as the School Teachers? Superannuation Act 1934 and the Hospital Nurses Superannuation Act 1948 have been repealed and now fall under the PSSF ? a move which had a significant effect on the unfunded liability of the fund.

The actuaries may also be examining issues such as rebalancing the PSSF portfolio to reflect the conservative nature of the fund, and how to balance the problem of the fund paying out more in benefits than it is receiving in contributions.