General Motors Pension Plans, the largest private pension fund in the US with about $78bn (€87bn) under management, has found itself with a $9.1bn pension deficit due to the turmoil in the equity markets.

A spokesman for General Motors Asset Management Company, the investment arm of the motor company pension fund, said the firm had anticipated a 10% surplus, but found itself facing a -5.7% deficit in the size of its assets. This means the pension plan for hourly employees, which was overfunded by $1.7bn in 2000, was underfunded by $9.1bn in 2001.