The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | URN | The National Social Security Fund recorded an 85 percent increase in total revenue in the financial year ended June 2026, with income rising to 6.51 trillion shillings.
NSSF Managing Director Patrick Ayota attributed the growth to improved performance of the economy and the sectors and markets where the Fund has invested, including Uganda and the East African region.
About 3.88 trillion shillings of the reported revenue was realised income, mainly from investments in government securities.
Interest income increased by 21 percent to 3.49 trillion shillings, while dividends from investments in other companies amounted to 369 billion shillings.
Ayota says investments in banking, telecommunications and breweries performed particularly well, contributing to the Fund’s investment returns. He also attributed part of the growth to the depreciation of the Ugandan shilling against regional currencies and the US dollar.
NSSF also reported growth in the value of assets under management, which increased to 32.8 trillion shillings from 26 trillion shillings at the end of the 2024/2025 financial year.
Members contributed 2.42 trillion shillings in new savings during the year, representing a 13 percent increase from the previous year.
At the same time, payments to 46,000 qualifying beneficiaries increased by 17 percent to 1.55 trillion shillings.
Ayota attributed the increase in payouts partly to growth in members’ savings and improvements in the processing of claims.
He says automation has reduced the average turnaround time for benefit payments to about four and a half days, from approximately two weeks in 2022.
During the year, 88,000 members who had reached the retirement age of 55 became eligible for benefits valued at 998 billion shillings. This compares with 67,000 members who qualified for benefits worth 790 billion shillings in the 2024/2025 financial year.
The Fund’s strong financial performance comes ahead of its Annual Members’ Meeting next week, where the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development is expected to announce the interest rate payable to NSSF members.
The interest rate is influenced by the Fund’s annual surplus and its policy of seeking to pay savers a return of at least two percentage points above the ten-year average inflation rate.
NSSF says 76 percent of its investment portfolio is in government securities, including Treasury bonds and bills, while the Fund also has investments in major companies, including telecommunications firms.
Ayota says the Fund intends to increase its contribution to Uganda’s infrastructure development, beginning with the Kampala-Jinja Expressway, for which NSSF says it has reached an agreement with government on financing.
He says the Fund is also considering other expressway projects. Ayota says the government is responsible for preparatory activities such as feasibility studies and acquisition of rights of way, while NSSF is prepared to provide financing once the projects are ready for investment.
Meanwhile, NSSF’s voluntary savings scheme, Smart Life, has mobilised 180 billion shillings in its first 20 months. The scheme, which allows members to save from as little as 5,000 shillings, currently has 135,000 accounts.
NSSF data shows that 64.35 percent of Smart Life savers are saving for purposes including investment, financial independence and school fees.
