NSSF PAYS SHS1.5 TRILLION IN BENEFITS AS FUND GROWS TO SHS32.8 TRILLION

NSSF Managing Director Patrick Ayota.

PML DAILY

The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) grew its assets to Shs32.8 trillion in the year to June 2026, up from Shs26.2 trillion a year earlier, while paying out about Shs1.5 trillion in benefits to members.

The increase of about Shs6.6 trillion, roughly 25%, came from members’ contributions, investment income and gains in the value of the fund’s investments, Managing Director Patrick Ayota said.

“Every bit of money we have in this fund belongs to a member. Each member has an ownership stake in the fund. It is not general ownership; it is very specific,” Ayota said.

Total income rose 24% to about Shs3.88 trillion, from about Shs3.13 trillion. Interest on bonds made up the bulk at about Shs3.49 trillion, followed by dividends of about Shs369 billion and about Shs16 billion from the reverse trading account.

The fund also recorded about Shs2.62 trillion in unrealised fair-value gains, reflecting a rise in the market value of its investments.

At the end of the financial year, 76.5% of the fund’s assets were in fixed income, 18.4% in equities and 5.1% in real estate. Two years earlier, the split was 79.2% in treasury bonds, 13.1% in equities and 7.7% in real estate, a sign that the fund has shifted towards shares.

Ayota said most of the fixed-income holdings are government bonds, which makes NSSF a significant source of government financing.

“When the government goes to the market to auction bonds, we compete with other investors, including international investors, to purchase those bonds,” he said. “We are therefore part and parcel of the way the government finances its programmes and meets its funding needs.”

He said the fund’s stakes in companies such as MTN and Airtel give it dividends and potential capital growth.

Benefit payments rose to about Shs1.5 trillion from Shs1.3 trillion the previous year. Ayota said the average time to process a claim had fallen from about 10.9 days to about 4.5 days, helped by digitalisation, with about 99% of transactions now handled digitally.

“If an authorisation is made at midnight, the relevant official can review and approve it electronically without having to physically come into the office,” he said.

According to Ayota, the fund recorded 89% customer satisfaction and 90% staff engagement in 2025/26.

He said Smart Life, the fund’s voluntary savings product launched in December 2024, had attracted slightly more than 175,000 accounts in about 18 months.

“The issue is not that Uganda does not save. People will save when they are given an easy, convenient and trusted way to do it,” he said.

The fund has started a new 10-year strategy, Vision 2035, which Ayota said was intended to make it more resilient to economic shocks. He has previously said the fund aims to grow its assets to Shs80 trillion by 2035.

“We do not put all our money into bonds. We do not put all our money into equities, and we do not put all our money into real estate,” Ayota said.

Members will be watching for the interest rate the Finance Minister declares on their savings for 2025/26. The rate for 2024/25 was 13.5%, worth Shs2.79 trillion, up from 11.5% the year before.

Written by newsroom-radiopacis