Pension fund declares 2017 a successful year |03 April 2018

The Seychelles Pension Fund (SPF) has declared 2017 a successful year on account of the various initiatives it embarked on and the productive contributions from both its members and stakeholders.

This is revealed in a foreword in the SPF Annual Report for 2017 by chief executive Lekha Nair.

Mrs Nair presented a copy of the report to the Minister for Finance, Trade and Economic Planning, Peter Larose, last Thursday.

This presentation is a normal procedure required under paragraph 54 of the Seychelles Pension Fund Act 2005.

It also asks for the report to be submitted to the National Assembly of Seychelles.

The SPF 2017 annual report provides an overview of the activities, achievements and constraints that SPF has encountered during the year 2017. It also offers information on how SPF is managed for the benefit of all Seychellois workers in both the public and private sectors, on either full-time or part-time employment and also the self-employed.

The Financial Statements of the report were prepared under the International Financial Reporting Standards and was audited by the office of the Auditor General, who outsourced the audit to Pool and Patel Chartered Accountants.

With the audit completed, SPF wishes to inform its members that their statement of accounts for the year 2017 will be dispatched individually to them as from the beginning of April onwards.

All member accounts for both mandatory and voluntary contributions have been credited with an interest of 3.5% for 2017. SPF requests all members to check their statements on receipt and to contact SPF’s offices on Mahé, Praslin and La Digue if they have any queries.

The principal secretary for finance and former board chairman, Patrick Payet, says in the report’s foreword that SPF’s greatest challenge is to continue to ensure that the payment for benefits is done within the shortest possible time frame and to cope with the ever-increasing demand of the general public.

“Creating awareness of SPF among the general population, in particular among members and employers, has also been a priority area, as well as highlighting the importance of making savings to cater for retirement,” said Mr Payet.

He also cautioned against the increasing life expectancy and in the number of retirees which would require SPF to generate more funds to meet future retirement needs.

On her part, CEO Nair has declared 2017 as a successful year for the SPF and also mentioned the debate on pensionable age which got active participation and engagements in the districts and from stakeholders where the discussions were taken.

“These contributions have enabled SPF to make various proposed amendments to the SPF Act, including flexibility for retirement, spouse pension review, early voluntary contribution payments among others,” she says in her foreword to the report.

Also present at the presentation ceremony were current chairman Edwin Palmer and other senior officials of the SPF.