By Flavia Ajok
Members of the National Social Security Fund will be paid an interest rate of 11.5 percent for the year 2023/2024, an increase from the 9.7 that was declared the previous year.
This makes the impending interest payout total of about 2 trillion shillings.
This follows the improved performance of the Fund, whose total assets grew at a record 19 percent to 22.1 trillion shillings.
Announcing the interest, Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Matia Kasaija hailed the Fund for this performance which is attributed to the stability and continuity exhibited even when there was a managerial transition at the top.
Kasaija also hailed the Fund for investing in areas that he said create jobs for Ugandans, warning that the country faced a disaster if the more than a million young people joining the labour market annually are not catered for in terms of job availability.
The minister said he had come with three questions: Is the Fund financially stable and growing? Is the Fund investing in the right assets and sectors of the economy? Is the fund preserving and growing the values of the member’s savings? Is the fund investing in projects that are creating employment?
He said these had been answered.
The Fund’s Managing Director, Patrick Ayota expressed pride in their contribution to economic and social development of the country, saying the Fund now accounts for a quarter of the government’s total credit.
“Instead of the government going to borrow a lot of the money outside, at least we Ugandans can support our government by lending to them, said Ayota.
He also expressed pride in improving the turnaround time in both the mid-term and retirement benefits processing which he said now takes less than three days from the day of application.
