MANILA, Philippines–The first-half net income of the state-run pension fund Social Security System (SSS) jumped 446 percent to P15.3 billion as the faster rise in revenues boosted by the higher contribution rate since April outpaced the increase in expenses, including the bigger pension benefits to retirees.
The SSS’s latest condensed statement of comprehensive income showed that its end-June net income climbed from only P2.8 billion a year ago.
Its six-month revenues grew 21 percent to P116.7 billion from P96.8 billion during the same period last year.
First-half service and business income rose to P113.8 billion from P95.9 billion a year ago; gains, up to P2.8 billion from P705.7 million a year ago; and other non-operating income, up to P114.1 billion from P101.3 million a year ago.
Meanwhile, the SSS’s first-semester expenses rose by only 8 percent to P101.4 billion from a year ago’s P93.9 billion.
Benefit payments to members and pensioners increased to P95.7 billion, up from P88.6 billion a year ago.
Other expenses for personnel services, maintenance and other operating expenses, financial expenses, and non-cash expenses during the January to June period also inched up year-on-year.
In 2018, the SSS reversed the previous year’s drop in net income, posting a 12-percent growth in bottom line on the back of improved collections.
To recall, the SSS’s net income of P20.3 billion in 2017 slid 37 percent from 2016’s P32 billion as it implemented the additional P1,000 monthly pension approved by President Duterte.
Under Republic Act (RA) No. 11199 or the Social Security Act of 2018 signed by President Duterte this year, the monthly contribution rate of SSS members was hiked by the Social Security Commission to 12 percent, to followed by three more 1-percentage point increases in 2021, 2023 and 2025 until it reaches 15 percent. /jpv