http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/09/2....ap/index.html
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) -- Nearly every Alaska resident will receive a $1,107 check this year as their share of the state's oil riches-- a $433 drop from last year's payout.
The dividend checks are distributed every year from an oil royalty account called the Alaska Permanent Fund, created in 1976 after oil was discovered on the North Slope. Anyone who has lived in the state for over a year gets the dividend; almost 599,000 people are expected to receive it this year.
Earlier this year it was doubtful whether residents would receive any dividend at all, because stock market losses had eaten away at the $25 billion investment fund's core.
Tough times on Wall Street led to the dividend's decline this year. The amount was a 28 percent drop from last year's payout of $1,540, and a 44 percent decrease from the all-time high of $1,964 in 2000.
A total of $663.2 million will be disbursed this year, state officials said. The amount changes based on a five-year average of permanent fund investment income derived from bonds, stock dividends and sales and other investments.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) -- Nearly every Alaska resident will receive a $1,107 check this year as their share of the state's oil riches-- a $433 drop from last year's payout.
The dividend checks are distributed every year from an oil royalty account called the Alaska Permanent Fund, created in 1976 after oil was discovered on the North Slope. Anyone who has lived in the state for over a year gets the dividend; almost 599,000 people are expected to receive it this year.
Earlier this year it was doubtful whether residents would receive any dividend at all, because stock market losses had eaten away at the $25 billion investment fund's core.
Tough times on Wall Street led to the dividend's decline this year. The amount was a 28 percent drop from last year's payout of $1,540, and a 44 percent decrease from the all-time high of $1,964 in 2000.
A total of $663.2 million will be disbursed this year, state officials said. The amount changes based on a five-year average of permanent fund investment income derived from bonds, stock dividends and sales and other investments.
Comment