China's National Council for Social Security Fund said Thursday that assets under management reached 776.5 billion yuan (US$113.7 billion) by the end of 2009.

The figure was up 38 percent from the previous year, a spokesperson with the council told Xinhua.

The council improved rate of return on equity investment and pocketed 42.66 billion yuan of profits, up 82.6 percent from the previous year.

The State Council and many other departments added 82.59 billion yuan to the national social security funds in 2009, the spokesperson said.

Many countries saw pension funds shrunk due to the global financial crisis, but China's pension fund assets rose 76.6 percent in 2009 from 2007 before the financial crisis, the spokesperson said.

(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2009)