NSSF projects Fund size to grow to Shs20 trillion next year 

National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has said the size of the Fund will grow to Shs20 trillion by June 2024, a year earlier than projected.

In details provided ahead of the Fund’s annual members’ meeting due this week, Mr Patrick Ayota, the NSSF managing director, said assets under management had been projected to expand to Shs20 trillion by 2025 but achieving the growth by June 2024 remains a strategic goal. 
The projected increase means that NSSF will, in medium term, grow the size of the Fund by at least Shs1.5 trillion from Shs18.56 trillion in the period ended June 2023 to Shs20 trillion.

“Based on the Fund’s performance in [the] 2022/23 [financial year] , we project that the strategic goal of growing the assets under management to Shs20 trillion by 2025 will be achieved by June 2024, one year ahead of schedule,” Mr Ayota said. 

During the period ended June 2023, NSSF’s assets increased by Shs1.32 trillion from Shs17.26 trillion in June 2022 to Shs18.58 trillion. 
The increase was, however, lower than the Shs1.5 trillion that NSSF hopes to realise to hit the Shs20 trillion mark. 

However, NSSF has been ramping up a number of initiative, many of which seek to increase recruitment of both mandatory and voluntary members.
The Fund is also projected to grow in terms of revenue generated from investments such as equities and real estate, which during the period ended June 2023, grew by Shs326b from Shs1.87 trillion to Shs2.2 trillion.   
However, Mr Ayota indicated that while the Fund’s performance remains strong and profitable, the current size remains far from what is desirable , noting that there was need to also make the Fund more sustainable in the long term. 

Therefore, he said, under Vision 2035, the bedrock of the Fund’s long-term strategy will focus on growing assets under management to Shs50 trillion, with a coverage of at least 50 percent of the working population. 
Mr Gerald Paul Kasaato, the NSSF chief investment officer and acting deputy managing director, said the Fund had invested in a number of assets in and outside Uganda including in Safaricom in Kenya, which is one of East Africa’s most profitable companies. 

Other investment instruments, he said, have been placed in Tanzania and Rwanda, especially in government debt and in blue ship companies.
Mr Kasaato indicated 12.51 percent of NSSF’s investments are held in equities, while 9.01 percent in real estate. The largest portion of 78.48 percent is held in fixed income.