[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 50 (Friday, March 14, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12388-12389]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-6141]


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PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION


Required Interest Rate Assumption for Determining Variable-Rate 
Premium; Interest Assumptions for Multiemployer Plan Valuations 
Following Mass Withdrawal

AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

ACTION: Notice of interest rates and assumptions.

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SUMMARY: This notice informs the public of the interest rates and 
assumptions to be used under certain Pension Benefit Guaranty 
Corporation regulations. These rates and assumptions are published 
elsewhere (or can be derived from rates published elsewhere), but are 
collected and published in this notice for the convenience of the 
public. Interest rates are also published on the PBGC's Web site 
(http://www.pbgc.gov).

DATES: The required interest rate for determining the variable-rate 
premium under part 4006 applies to premium payment years beginning in 
March 2003. The interest assumptions for performing multiemployer plan 
valuations following mass withdrawal under part 4281 apply to valuation 
dates occurring in April 2003.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Harold J. Ashner, Assistant General 
Counsel, Office of the General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty 
Corporation, 1200 K Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005, 202-326-4024. 
(TTY/TDD users may call the Federal relay service toll-free at 1-800-
877-8339 and ask to be connected to 202-326-4024.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Variable-Rate Premiums

    Section 4006(a)(3)(E)(iii)(II) of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and Sec.  4006.4(b)(1) of the PBGC's 
regulation on Premium Rates (29 CFR part 4006) prescribe use of an 
assumed interest rate (the ``required interest rate'') in determining a 
single-employer plan's variable-rate premium. The required interest 
rate is the ``applicable percentage'' (currently 100 percent) of the 
annual yield on 30-year Treasury securities for the month preceding the 
beginning of the plan year for which premiums are being paid (the 
``premium payment year''). (Although the Treasury Department has ceased 
issuing 30-year securities, the Internal

[[Page 12389]]

Revenue Service announces a surrogate yield figure each month--based on 
the 30-year Treasury bond maturing in February 2031--which the PBGC 
uses to determine the required interest rate.)
    The required interest rate to be used in determining variable-rate 
premiums for premium payment years beginning in March 2003 is 4.81 
percent.
    The following table lists the required interest rates to be used in 
determining variable-rate premiums for premium payment years beginning 
between April 2002 and March 2003.

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                                                            The required
          For premium payment years beginning in:             interest
                                                              rate is:
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April 2002................................................         5.71
May 2002..................................................         5.68
June 2002.................................................         5.65
July 2002.................................................         5.52
August 2002...............................................         5.39
September 2002............................................         5.08
October 2002..............................................         4.76
November 2002.............................................         4.93
December 2002.............................................         4.96
January 2003..............................................         4.92
February 2003.............................................         4.94
March 2003................................................         4.81
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Multiemployer Plan Valuations Following Mass Withdrawal

    The PBGC's regulation on Duties of Plan Sponsor Following Mass 
Withdrawal (29 CFR part 4281) prescribes the use of interest 
assumptions under the PBGC's regulation on Allocation of Assets in 
Single-Employer Plans (29 CFR part 4044). The interest assumptions 
applicable to valuation dates in April 2003 under part 4044 are 
contained in an amendment to part 4044 published elsewhere in today's 
Federal Register. Tables showing the assumptions applicable to prior 
periods are codified in appendix B to 29 CFR part 4044.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on this 10th day of March, 2003.
Joseph H. Grant,
Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Pension Benefit 
Guaranty Corporation.
[FR Doc. 03-6141 Filed 3-13-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7708-01-P