Higher contribution rate lifts SSS net by 260%

The higher contribution rate being paid by members since April boosted the net income of state-run pension fund Social Security System (SSS) by 260 percent to P31 billion at the end of the first nine months.

The SSS’s latest condensed statement of comprehensive income showed that its end-September net income jumped from P8.6 billion a year ago.

The pension fund’s nine-month income rose 23 percent to P186.2 billion from P151.3 billion in the same period last year.

From January to September, service and business income increased to P182.1 billion from P148.9 billion a year ago while gains rose to P3.9 billion from P2 billion last year, even as other non-operating income declined to P212.3 million from P384.8 million a year ago.

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 jacked up by the Social Security Commission to 12 percent, to be followed by three more 1-percentage point increases in 2021, 2023 and 2025 until it reached 15 percent.

Meanwhile, the SSS’s end-September expenses rose 9 percent to P155.2 billion from P142.7 billion a year ago.

Benefit payments to members and pensioners rose to P146.2 billion from P134 billion a year ago.

Personnel services, financial expenses, and noncash expenses also increased between January to September compared to amounts a year ago, while maintenance and other operating expenses dropped to P1.4 billion from P1.6 billion last year. —BEN O. DE VERA