NEW YORK, Jan. 22 (AFP) – Goldman Sachs posted huge forecast-shattering 2009 profits Thursday as the banking giant moved to deflect criticism about lavish bonuses from 16 billion dollars reserved for compensation.

Goldman Sachs, the poster child for public outrage over big bonuses, said it was scaling its money for employee compensation in the face of criticism that it weathered the financial crisis with government aid.

The bank reported net profit of 4.787 billion dollars in the fourth quarter. For all of 2009, net profit leapt to 12.192 billion dollars, a sixfold increase from 2.041 billion dollars in 2008.

''I think the people of Goldman Sachs did a great job this year,'' finance chief David Viniar told reporters.

Goldman Sachs said it had allotted 16.193 billion dollars in 2009 for compensation, including bonuses and benefits, a rise of 48 percent from a year earlier.

Chairman and chief executive Lloyd Blankfein said the year's pay and benefits outlay was ''our lowest-ever compensation to net revenues ratio'' – at 35.8 percent, down from 48.0 percent a year earlier.

The Wall Street giant said that fourth-quarter compensation had been reduced to fund a charitable contribution of 500 million dollars to one of the firm's philanthropy programs aimed at stimulating US economic growth and job creation.

On average, each of the bank's 32,500 employees would have received nearly 500,000 dollars in compensation and benefits in 2009.

Viniar, who said that the majority of the reductions would affect top executives, insisted: ''We're not blind to the calls for restraint and we heard them.''