SHANGHAI: China's national pension fund is preparing to boost private equity investments as the fund is expected to grow to 1 trillion yuan ($147 billion) in a year, up from $80 billion at the end of last year, Chairman Dai Xianglong said yesterday.

Dai, head of China's National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and a former central bank governor, also said that the global currency system dominated by the dollar would gradually shift to one comprising of the dollar, the euro and Asian currencies such as the yuan in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

"Big changes are taking place, but they won't happen overnight," Dai told a financial conference in Shanghai. "Reforming the irrational international financial system is necessary, but it's a gradual, long-term process."