The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has paid 6% interest to members’ accounts for the Financial Year 2010/2011, the Managing Director Richard Byarugaba announced.
The Fund’s announcement follows a declaration by the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Hon. Maria Kiwanuka.
This is in accordance with the section 35(2) of the National Social Security Fund Act (Cap222), which mandates the Minister to declare the interest to members after consultation with the NSSF Board.
This is a 1 percentage drop from the 7% the Fund paid last year.
Addressing a media conference, Mr. Byarugaba attributed the slight decline in interest to the general global economic turn down and the increased cost of doing business.
“The global economic crisis severely affected our earnings from investments especially in equities. In the last twelve months, because of the uncertainties on the investment horizon, NSSF opted to adopt a more prudent and conservative stance in order to minimise risk and preserve the value of our members’ Funds”, he said.
“The bulk of our investments, 78% are in Fixed Income, while 7% is in Equity and 15% is in Real Estate. In spite of the difficult operating conditions, NSSF is still able to give its members a return of 6% because of the stringent cost control measures and efficiency initiatives implemented over the last twelve months.” Byarugaba added.
Commenting on the overall performance of the Fund, Byarugaba said that the Fund has recorded significant improvements in its operations.
“We are now able to pay members their benefits within 12 days from 106 a year ago. The members Fund has now reached UGX 2.1 trillion in value,” he said.
He pledged that in the current year and going forward, the members will begin to reap from the benefits of the various initiatives that are being implemented.
He added that the Fund is aggressively seeking investment opportunities in the region in order to diversify its investment portfolio and offer better returns to its members.
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