The National Social Security Fund managing director has said the Fund projects a 15% increase in member contributions this financial year from what it registered last financial year.
Mr Richard Byarugaba said yesterday during the 4th NSSF Annual Members Meeting at Kampala Serena Hotel, “Last year, the Fund recorded member contributions of shs785 billion, but our projection is that we shall hit the shs900 billion mark or even more by the end of this financial year.”
He also said the Fund has registered a 18% growth in total membership over the last five years, growing from 1.37 million to over 1.63 million as at June 2016.
“The consistent growth both in terms of membership and Fund value is testament that the Fund is headed in the right direction. It shows that we have earned the public and our members trust. It is our obligation to continuously improve our processes through automation and provide our members with a great customer experience,” he said.
In the latest financials released by the Fund, the number of new individual workers registering with the Fund increased from 106,683 in the 2014/15 financial year to 119, 688 last financial year.
“The upward movement has been powered by the improvement in compliance levels now at 78%, as well our relationship management business model,” he added.
Also the number of new employers registering their workers with the NSSF grew by 2,887 in the 2015/16 financial year. The Fund currently has a total of more than 23,000 employers on its books.
Commenting on last financial year’s performance, the NSSF Board chairman, Mr Patrick Kaberenge, said; “the business environment was not an easy one last year: the fluctuating foreign exchange rates, slow economic growth, poor performance of the stock markets, among other factors, posed a challenge to the Fund. That we were able to emerge with a good performance as we have just seen, it testament to the resilience of the Fund, its management and staff.”
NSSF recently announced an Interest Rate of 12.3% on members’ savings, 0.7% points less than that of the 2014/15 financial year.
At the same event, 27 employers were recognised for paying their employees’ salaries on time. Dfcu Bank scooped the overall award followed by Price Water House Coopers, Electricity Regulatory Authority, Jubilee Insurance Company of Uganda and Kampala Motors Limited – in that order.
“We recognised the best employers in terms of compliance, basing on our 360 degrees compliance check. In other words, employers should be remitting contributions for all their employers, these contributions should be remitted on time, and in the right amounts of money as per their legal obligations,”Ms Barbra Arimi, the head of Marketing and Communications, NSSF, said.
The Members Meeting attracted over 700 people, including NSSF contributors, employers, workers unions’ representatives, government representatives and members of the public.