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August 2009

vol. 14, No. 34 Week of August 23, 2009

Permanent Fund account down 17%

The checks won’t rival last year’s windfall, but the bounce-back in worldwide investment markets means Alaskans could still get a four-figure Permanent Fund Dividend this fall.

Permanent Fund CEO Mike Burns said the fund lost 17.4 percent of its value for the fiscal year that ended June 30. Though certainly weak, it’s better than the massive losses predicted early this year.

“The markets have come back substantially,” Burns said told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. “We are very pleased with that.”

The fund’s balance as of Aug. 5 was $31.9 billion.

Five-year rolling average

The amount of investment earnings allocated to dividends is based on a five-year rolling average of fund performance. Last year, the state paid dividends of $2,069, up from $1,654 in 2007 and the highest paid since the fund began annual distributions in 1983. Alaskans also got $1,200 per person in a one-time energy rebate.

The precise amount of the 2009 dividend is unknown. Burns said

$874 million has been transferred to fund dividends this year, compared with $1.3 billion in 2008. Dividends will be sent in October.

Deborah Bitney, the director of the Permanent Fund Dividend Division, said her office has received 657,000 applications and is processing another 50,000 to ensure they meet eligibility. The dividend amount won’t be official until September.

—The Associated Press





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