Pension Fund Shortfalls Double

The shortfall between promised pension benefits and the money set aside to pay for them more than doubled - to $64 billion - when interest rates sharply declined a year ago.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. said Thursday the singleemployer pension plans it insures had assets of only $415 billion to cover $479 billion in liabilities at the end of 1995.

The resulting gap was more than twice the size of the $31 billion shortfall at the end of 1994.

The federal pension insurance agency attributed the decline to interest rates that fell from 7.15 percent at the end of 1994 to 5.3 percent at the end of 1995, lowest in the agency’s 22-year history.

Lower interest rates reduce earnings on plan investments and thus require companies to come up with more cash if their retirement plans are to remain fully funded.