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by
financed
on
The Pneumoconiosis Compensation Fund is
levy a
on the value of quarry
and products
construction works with a value of $1 million or more. The
levy was originally set at 0.2 per cent,
at 0.2 per cent, but because of our
success in reducing the incidence of the disease it has been
possible to reduce it to 0.15 per cent
to 0.15 per cent in 1986 and 0.05 per
cent in January 1987, when the fund stood at $72 million.
Despite these sharp cuts in the rate of levy and
despite our decision in October 1987 to extend the scope
of the fund to include preventive works such as research,
education and publicity, the accumulated surplus has
continued to increase. By the end of February it had
reached $111 million. The Fund Board has therefore reviewed
the situation yet again and has recommended that the current
0.05 per cent rate of levy
rate of levy should be reduced still further
to 0.02 per cent.
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This is expected to reduce the surplus to about $77
million by 1993. This would still be about three times
annual expenditure, but this will, of course, depend on the
fortunes of the construction industry during this period.
The trend of income and expenditure and the level of
reserves will be kept under review and, if necessary,
further adjustments will be recommended in consultation with
the construction and quarry industries which are represented
on the Board. The Fund Board considers that the optimum
level of reserves should be about 18 months expenditure and
has set itself this target for the long term.