the defined benefit pension plans’ trust and $130 million to our retiree medical plans which will reduce our cash funding requirements for 2007 and 2008.
In 2007, we expect to make no contributions to the defined benefit pension plans and expect to contribute $175 million to the retiree medical and life insurance plans, after giving consideration to the 2006 prepayments.
The following benefit payments, which reflect expected future service, as appropriate, are expected to be paid:
## Table 0 ##
As noted previously, we also sponsor nonqualified defined benefit plans to provide benefits in excess of qualified plan limits.
The aggregate liabilities for these plans at December 31, 2006 were $641 million.
The expense associated with these plans totaled $59 million in 2006, $58 million in 2005 and $61 million in 2004.
We also sponsor a small number of foreign benefit plans.
The liabilities and expenses associated with these plans are not material to our results of operations, financial position or cash flows.
Note 13 – Leases Our total rental expense under operating leases was $310 million, $324 million and $318 million for 2006, 2005 and 2004, respectively.
Future minimum lease commitments at December 31, 2006 for all operating leases that have a remaining term of more than one year were $1.1 billion ($288 million in 2007, $254 million in 2008, $211 million in 2009, $153 million in 2010, $118 million in 2011 and $121 million in later years).
Certain major plant facilities and equipment are furnished by the U. S.  Government under short-term or cancelable arrangements.
Note 14 – Legal Proceedings, Commitments and Contingencies We are a party to or have property subject to litigation and other proceedings, including matters arising under provisions relating to the protection of the environment.
We believe the probability is remote that the outcome of these matters will have a material adverse effect on the Corporation as a whole.
We cannot predict the outcome of legal proceedings with certainty.
These matters include the following items, all of which have been previously reported: On March 27, 2006, we received a subpoena issued by a grand jury in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
The subpoena requests documents related to our application for patents issued in the United States and the United Kingdom relating to a missile detection and warning technology.
We are cooperating with the government’s investigation.
On February 6, 2004, we submitted a certified contract claim to the United States requesting contractual indemnity for remediation and litigation costs (past and future) related to our former facility in Redlands, California.
We submitted the claim consistent with a claim sponsorship agreement with The Boeing Company (Boeing), executed in 2001, in Boeing’s role as the prime contractor on the Short Range Attack Missile (SRAM) program.
The contract for the SRAM program, which formed a significant portion of our work at the Redlands facility, had special contractual indemnities from the U. S.  Air Force, as authorized by Public Law 85-804.
On August 31, 2004, the United States denied the claim.
Our appeal of that decision is pending with the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals.
On August 28, 2003, the Department of Justice (the DoJ) filed complaints in partial intervention in two lawsuits filed under the qui tam provisions of the Civil False Claims Act in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, United States ex rel.
Natural Resources Defense Council, et al v.  Lockheed Martin Corporation, et al, and United States ex rel.
John D.  Tillson v.  Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, Inc. , et al.
The DoJ alleges that we committed violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant by not properly handling, storing,
PRUDENTIAL FINANCIAL, INC.  Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements Concentrations of Financial Instruments The Company monitors its concentrations of financial instruments and mitigates credit risk by maintaining a diversified investment portfolio which limits exposure to any one issuer.
As of the dates indicated, the Company’s exposure to concentrations of credit risk of single issuers greater than 10% of the Company’s stockholders’ equity included securities of the U. S.  government and certain U. S.  government agencies and securities guaranteed by the U. S.  government, as well as the securities disclosed below:
## Table 1 ##
Commercial Mortgage and Other Loans The following table sets forth the composition of “Commercial mortgage and other loans,” as of the dates indicated:
## Table 2 ##
PRUDENTIAL FINANCIAL, INC.  Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements approximately 700,000 life insurance policies with net retained face amount in force of approximately $141 billion.
The Company acquired the general account business through a coinsurance arrangement and, for certain types of general account policies, a modified coinsurance arrangement.
The Company acquired the separate account business through a modified coinsurance arrangement.
In December 2017, Hartford Financial announced a definitive agreement to sell a group of operating subsidiaries, which includes two of the Company’s counterparties to these reinsurance arrangements.
The sale occurred in May 2018 and there was no impact to the terms, rights or obligations of the Company, or operation of these reinsurance arrangements, as a result of this change in control of such counterparties.
Since 2011, the Company has entered into several reinsurance agreements to assume pension liabilities in the United Kingdom.
Under these arrangements, the Company assumes the longevity risk associated with the pension benefits of certain specified beneficiaries.
In 2006, the Company acquired the variable annuity business of The Allstate Corporation (“Allstate”) through a reinsurance transaction.
The reinsurance arrangements with Allstate include a coinsurance arrangement associated with the general account liabilities assumed and a modified coinsurance arrangement associated with the separate account liabilities assumed.
The reinsurance payable, which represents the Company’s obligation under the modified coinsurance arrangement, is netted with the reinsurance receivable in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Position.
In 2004, the Company acquired the retirement business of CIGNA and subsequently entered into various reinsurance arrangements.
The Company still has indemnity coinsurance and modified coinsurance without assumption arrangements in effect related to this acquisition.
For the domestic business, life and disability reinsurance is accomplished through various plans of reinsurance, primarily yearly renewable term, per person excess, excess of loss, and coinsurance.
On policies sold since 2000, the Company has reinsured a significant portion of the individual life mortality risk.
Placement of reinsurance is accomplished primarily on an automatic basis with some specific risks reinsured on a facultative basis.
The Company is authorized and has historically retained up to $30 million per life, but reduced its operating retention limit to $20 million per life in 2013.
Retention in excess of the operating limit is on an exception basis.
The international business primarily uses reinsurance to obtain experience with respect to certain new product offerings and to a lesser extent, to mitigate mortality risk for certain protection products and for capital management purposes.
Reinsurance amounts included in the Consolidated Statements of Operations for premiums, policy charges and fee income, and policyholders’ benefits for the years ended December 31, are as follows:
## Table 3 ##
Reinsurance recoverables at December 31, are as follows:
## Table 4 ##
(1) Primarily represents reinsurance recoverables established under the reinsurance arrangements associated with the acquisition of the retirement business of CIGNA.
The Company has recorded reinsurance recoverables related to the acquisition of the retirement business of CIGNA of $481 million and $682 million at December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.
Also included is $15 million and $13 million of reinsurance recoverables at December 31,
PRUDENTIAL FINANCIAL, INC.  Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements The Company is participating in the IRS’s Compliance Assurance Program.
Under this program, the IRS assigns an examination team to review completed transactions as they occur in order to reach agreement with the Company on how they should be reported in the relevant tax returns.
If disagreements arise, accelerated resolutions programs are available to resolve the disagreements in a timely manner before the tax return is filed.
Some of the Company’s affiliates in Japan file a consolidated tax return, while others file separate tax returns.
The Company’s affiliates in Japan are subject to audits by the local taxing authority.
The general statute of limitations is five years from when the return is filed.
During 2016, the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau concluded a routine tax audit of the tax returns of the Company’s affiliates in Japan for their tax years ended March 31, 2013 to March 31, 2015.
These activities had no material impact on the Company’s 2016, 2017 or 2018 results.
The Company’s affiliates in South Korea file separate tax returns and are subject to audits by the local taxing authority.
The general statute of limitations is five years from when the return is filed.
The Korean National Tax Service did not conduct a tax audit of the tax returns of Prudential of Korea during the reporting period.16.
SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM DEBT Short-term Debt The table below presents the Company’s short-term debt at December 31, for the years indicated as follows:
## Table 5 ##
(1) Includes $53 million of mortgage debt denominated in foreign currency at December 31, 2018.
(2) Includes $57 million of debt that has recourse only to real estate property held for investment by subsidiaries at December 31, 2018.
(3) Includes Prudential Financial debt of $1,115 million and $880 million at December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.
(4) Excludes the current portion of long-term debt.
At December 31, 2018 and 2017, the Company was in compliance with all covenants related to the above debt.
Commercial Paper Prudential Financial has a commercial paper program with an authorized capacity of $3.0 billion.
Prudential Financial’s commercial paper borrowings have generally been used to fund the working capital needs of Prudential Financial’s subsidiaries and provide short-term liquidity at Prudential Financial.
Prudential Funding, LLC (“Prudential Funding”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Prudential Insurance, has a commercial paper program, with an authorized capacity of $7.0 billion.
Prudential Funding commercial paper borrowings generally have served as an additional source of financing to meet the working capital needs of Prudential Insurance and its subsidiaries.
Prudential Funding also lends to other subsidiaries of Prudential Financial up to limits agreed with the NJDOBI.
Prudential Funding maintains a support agreement with Prudential Insurance whereby Prudential Insurance has agreed to maintain Prudential Funding’s tangible net worth at a positive level.
Additionally, Prudential Financial has issued a subordinated guarantee covering Prudential Funding’s $7.0 billion commercial paper program.
In order to reduce earnings volatility from foreign currency exchange rate movements, we enter into forward currency derivative contracts to effectively fix the currency exchange rates for a portion of our prospective non-USD-denominated earnings streams.
This forward currency hedging program is primarily associated with our insurance operations in Japan and Korea.
In order to reduce equity volatility from foreign currency exchange rate movements, we primarily utilize a yen hedging strategy that calibrates the hedge level to preserve the relative contribution of our yen-based business to the Company’s overall return on equity on a leverage neutral basis.
We implement this hedging strategy utilizing a variety of instruments, including USD-denominated assets, foreign currency derivative contracts, and dual currency and synthetic dual currency investments held locally in our Japanese insurance subsidiaries.
The total hedge level may vary based on our periodic assessment of the relative contribution of our yen-based business to the Company’s overall return on equity.
The table below presents the aggregate amount of instruments that serve to hedge the impact of foreign currency exchange movements on our USD-equivalent shareholder return on equity from our Japanese insurance subsidiaries as of the dates indicated.

<table><tr><td><i>(In millions)</i></td><td><i>Pension</i><i>Benefits</i></td><td><i>Other</i><i>Benefits</i></td></tr><tr><td>2007</td><td>$1,440</td><td>$260</td></tr><tr><td>2008</td><td>1,490</td><td>260</td></tr><tr><td>2009</td><td>1,540</td><td>270</td></tr><tr><td>2010</td><td>1,600</td><td>270</td></tr><tr><td>2011</td><td>1,660</td><td>270</td></tr><tr><td>Years 2012 – 2016</td><td>9,530</td><td>1,260</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="2">December 31, 2018</td><td colspan="2">December 31, 2017</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>AmortizedCost</td><td>FairValue</td><td>AmortizedCost</td><td>FairValue</td></tr><tr><td></td><td colspan="4">(in millions)</td></tr><tr><td>Investments in Japanese government and government agency securities:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Fixed maturities, available-for-sale</td><td>$71,952</td><td>$84,461</td><td>$64,628</td><td>$76,311</td></tr><tr><td>Fixed maturities, held-to-maturity</td><td>864</td><td>1,127</td><td>844</td><td>1,103</td></tr><tr><td>Fixed maturities, trading</td><td>22</td><td>22</td><td>23</td><td>23</td></tr><tr><td>Assets supporting experience-rated contractholder liabilities</td><td>691</td><td>697</td><td>657</td><td>667</td></tr><tr><td>Total</td><td>$73,529</td><td>$86,307</td><td>$66,152</td><td>$78,104</td></tr><tr><td></td><td colspan="2">December 31, 2018</td><td colspan="2">December 31, 2017</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>AmortizedCost</td><td>FairValue</td><td>AmortizedCost</td><td>FairValue</td></tr><tr><td></td><td colspan="4">(in millions)</td></tr><tr><td>Investments in South Korean government and government agency securities:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Fixed maturities, available-for-sale</td><td>$10,339</td><td>$12,586</td><td>$9,425</td><td>$10,989</td></tr><tr><td>Fixed maturities, held-to-maturity</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>Fixed maturities, trading</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>Assets supporting experience-rated contractholder liabilities</td><td>15</td><td>15</td><td>15</td><td>15</td></tr><tr><td>Total</td><td>$10,354</td><td>$12,601</td><td>$9,440</td><td>$11,004</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="2">December 31, 2018</td><td colspan="2">December 31, 2017</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Amount(in millions)</td><td>% ofTotal</td><td>Amount(in millions)</td><td>% ofTotal</td></tr><tr><td>Commercial mortgage and agricultural property loans by property type:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Office</td><td>$13,280</td><td>22.4%</td><td>$12,670</td><td>22.9%</td></tr><tr><td>Retail</td><td>8,639</td><td>14.6</td><td>8,543</td><td>15.5</td></tr><tr><td>Apartments/Multi-Family</td><td>16,538</td><td>28.0</td><td>15,465</td><td>28.0</td></tr><tr><td>Industrial</td><td>11,574</td><td>19.6</td><td>9,451</td><td>17.1</td></tr><tr><td>Hospitality</td><td>1,931</td><td>3.3</td><td>2,067</td><td>3.7</td></tr><tr><td>Other</td><td>3,846</td><td>6.5</td><td>3,888</td><td>7.0</td></tr><tr><td>Total commercial mortgage loans</td><td>55,808</td><td>94.4</td><td>52,084</td><td>94.2</td></tr><tr><td>Agricultural property loans</td><td>3,316</td><td>5.6</td><td>3,203</td><td>5.8</td></tr><tr><td>Total commercial mortgage and agricultural property loans by property type</td><td>59,124</td><td>100.0%</td><td>55,287</td><td>100.0%</td></tr><tr><td>Allowance for credit losses</td><td>-123</td><td></td><td>-100</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Total net commercial mortgage and agricultural property loans by property type</td><td>59,001</td><td></td><td>55,187</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Other loans:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Uncollateralized loans</td><td>660</td><td></td><td>663</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Residential property loans</td><td>157</td><td></td><td>196</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Other collateralized loans</td><td>17</td><td></td><td>5</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Total other loans</td><td>834</td><td></td><td>864</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Allowance for credit losses</td><td>-5</td><td></td><td>-6</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Total net other loans</td><td>829</td><td></td><td>858</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Total commercial mortgage and other loans-1</td><td>$59,830</td><td></td><td>$56,045</td><td></td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td>2018</td><td>2017</td><td>2016</td></tr><tr><td></td><td colspan="3">(in millions)</td></tr><tr><td>Direct premiums</td><td>$35,048</td><td>$31,797</td><td>$30,654</td></tr><tr><td>Reinsurance assumed</td><td>2,574</td><td>2,105</td><td>2,073</td></tr><tr><td>Reinsurance ceded</td><td>-1,843</td><td>-1,811</td><td>-1,763</td></tr><tr><td>Premiums</td><td>$35,779</td><td>$32,091</td><td>$30,964</td></tr><tr><td>Direct policy charges and fee income</td><td>$5,245</td><td>$4,541</td><td>$5,031</td></tr><tr><td>Reinsurance assumed</td><td>1,189</td><td>1,176</td><td>1,243</td></tr><tr><td>Reinsurance ceded</td><td>-432</td><td>-414</td><td>-368</td></tr><tr><td>Policy charges and fee income</td><td>$6,002</td><td>$5,303</td><td>$5,906</td></tr><tr><td>Direct policyholders’ benefits</td><td>$38,079</td><td>$33,261</td><td>$32,957</td></tr><tr><td>Reinsurance assumed</td><td>3,659</td><td>3,230</td><td>3,110</td></tr><tr><td>Reinsurance ceded</td><td>-2,334</td><td>-2,697</td><td>-2,435</td></tr><tr><td>Policyholders’ benefits</td><td>$39,404</td><td>$33,794</td><td>$33,632</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td>2018</td><td>2017</td></tr><tr><td></td><td colspan="2">(in millions)</td></tr><tr><td>Individual and group annuities-1</td><td>$499</td><td>$698</td></tr><tr><td>Life insurance-2</td><td>4,335</td><td>4,290</td></tr><tr><td>Other reinsurance</td><td>162</td><td>171</td></tr><tr><td>Total reinsurance recoverables</td><td>$4,996</td><td>$5,159</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td>2018</td><td>2017</td></tr><tr><td></td><td colspan="2">($ in millions)</td></tr><tr><td>Commercial paper:</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Prudential Financial</td><td>$15</td><td>$50</td></tr><tr><td>Prudential Funding, LLC</td><td>727</td><td>500</td></tr><tr><td>Subtotal commercial paper</td><td>742</td><td>550</td></tr><tr><td>Mortgage Debt-1</td><td>53</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>Current portion of long-term debt-2</td><td>1,656</td><td>830</td></tr><tr><td>Total short-term debt-3</td><td>$2,451</td><td>$1,380</td></tr><tr><td>Supplemental short-term debt information:</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Portion of commercial paper borrowings due overnight</td><td>$301</td><td>$277</td></tr><tr><td>Daily average commercial paper outstanding</td><td>$1,554</td><td>$1,110</td></tr><tr><td>Weighted average maturity of outstanding commercial paper, in days</td><td>12</td><td>22</td></tr><tr><td>Weighted average interest rate on outstanding short-term debt-4</td><td>1.90%</td><td>0.99%</td></tr></table>

Question: what was the percentage change in the rental expense under operating leases from 2004 to 2005
Answer: 0.01887