ABP, the Dutch civil service pension fund and one of the biggest pension funds in the world, will not increase payouts to pensioners next year.

The fund’s financial position is not strong enough to allow pensions to rise in line with average pay increases, the fund said in a statement on Thursday evening.
ABP manages pensions for 2.8 million people and had a coverage ratio of 94% at the end of October. By law, funds should have a ratio of 105%, meaning they have sufficient assets to meet 105% of their pension commitments.
The fund’s recovery plan should have assets back up to strength in 2014, ABP said.
Earlier, the healthcare pension fund Zorg en Welzijn, which has some two million participants, said it would not increase pensions next year, while the premiums would rise by 0.4%.