RD169 - VRS Oversight Report No. 32 - VRS (Virginia Retirement System) Semi-Annual Investment Report - July 2009


Executive Summary:
The current global recession and precipitous declines in equity markets between September 2008 and March 2009 have created significant investment challenges for the Virginia Retirement System (VRS). The return for the VRS pension fund for the one-year period ending March 31, 2009, was -29.1 percent, and the market value of the fund was $38.9 billion. The difference in the value of the total fund between March 31, 2008 and March 31, 2009 amounts to $16.8 billion. Whereas the fund’s performance exceeded established benchmarks for the three-, five-, and ten-year periods ending March 31, 2009, this was not the case for the one-year period. Moreover, the fund did not earn the assumed actuarial rate of return, 7.5 percent, for the one-, three-, five-, and ten-year periods ending March 31, 2009.