SSS investment income seen to hit P71.4 billion by year-end

MANILA, Philippines — The Social Security System (SSS) expects to generate P71.41 billion in investment income by year-end, helping lift its net income despite higher pension and other benefit payouts.

The state-run pension fund’s consolidated investments are expected to grow to P1.44 trillion, with actual income projected to reach P71.4 billion by year-end.

SSS keeps a mix of government debt papers, corporate notes and bonds, equities, mutual funds, real estate and more under its investment portfolio.

As of the first half of the year, SSS had P1.27 trillion in consolidated investments, which resulted in P27.16 billion in income.

Most of these investments are made up of government securities at P629.05 billion, P179.44 billion in equities, P151.9 billion in member loans and P96.34 billion in corporate loans and bonds.

SSS commissioner Victor Alfonso Limlingan said the agency is balancing the security of members with the need to improve the service.

“It’s a tricky balancing act. You don’t want to be too conservative because then you don’t generate enough income necessary to pay for pensions. At the same time, you need to be a little more aggressive,” he said.

SSS also had P154.56 billion invested in property, which generated P906 million in actual income.

“Many of our members are very young and they won’t need to draw on their contributions until they’re much bigger on in life. Therefore, our experience has been our best performing investment, as many of you have probably confirmed, is real estate tends to go up in value over the long term,” Limlingan said.

SSS president and CEO Robert Joseph de Claro also announced that the fund’s net income for the first seven months reached P55.5 billion and may reach about P100 billion for the full year of 2026.

SSS recorded P142.97 billion in net income in 2025.

Member contributions, meanwhile, reached P235.33 billion as of end-July. SSS expects contributions to reach about P480 billion by December and sees room to raise collections toward P500 billion.

The pension fund had about 9.18 million members contributing to its mandatory provident fund as of July, which stood at P263.12 billion.

Expenditures hit P7.09 billion in the January to July period, equivalent to only 24.3 percent of the P29.22 billion allowed charter limit.

De Claro also said the SSS earmarked P15 billion for foreign investments in the second semester, which he said could reach P20 billion in 2027.