SSS assets reach P254-B
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 11/11/2009 6:32 PM
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MANILA - The consolidated assets of state-run pension fund manager Social Security System (SSS) have grown by more than P90 billion over the past 7 years, making it one of the country's best-performing government financial institutions.
From only P163 billion in 2002, SSS's consolidated assets totaled P254 billion as of end-June this year, according to former president and chief executive officer Corazon dela Paz-Bernardo.
Bernardo, who is currently the president of Geneva-based International Social Security Association, said this was driven mainly by higher contribution rates of members and employers.
Compared to 8.4% in 2003, she said the contribution rate of members and employers is at 10.4% as of January 2007.
"For the period 2001 to 2006, contributions collection grew at an average of 9% annually, from P31 billion in 2001 to close to P69 billion in 2008. For the first six months of this year, contributions collections have already reached P36.3 billion," she said in a forum at the Asian Institute of Management.
While SSS does not receive any subsidy from the government, Bernardo said the agency never failed to pay for pensions and other benefits of its members, which amounted to P68 billion in 2008.
"Since 2005, SSS has been recording surpluses in its contributions collections to benefit payments ratio, which have further improved the asset base of the fund. For the first half of this year, a surplus of P0.7 billion was recorded despite the lingering effects of the global financial crisis," she said.
SSS suffered a huge drop in profits for the first 6 months of the year due to the lack of one-time gains from the sale of shares in the equities market. The agency reported a net income of P8.37 billion as of end-June, P8.38 billion lower than the P16.75 billion recorded in the same period last year.
Total revenues, on the other hand, dropped 10.7% to P47.5 billion from last year's P53.2 billion.
The sharp decline in net income was driven mainly by the P9.11-billion non-recurring income from the sale of its 14.9% stake in Banco de Oro to SM Investments Corp. in the first half of 2008.
Despite these, SSS exceeded its income and revenue targets in the first half by P2.32 billion and P1.5 billion, respectively.
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