SPF pays out over R140m in pensions in 2016 |07 April 2017

The Seychelles Pension Fund (SPF) paid a total of R146.6 million in pension for the year 2016.

These pensions include permanent incapacity, surviving spouse pension, post-retirement surviving spouse pension, children pension, post retirement children pension and the most common form of pension paid remains the normal retirement pension at R95.1 million.

At the same time, SPF collected a total of R1.312 million of contributions in 2016.  Those contributions are in the form of employer voluntary contributions.

In a short ceremony on Wednesday, the SPF presented its 2016 annual report to the Minister for Finance, Trade and Economic Planning Dr Peter Larose, as required under the SPF Act.

It was the chief executive officer of SPF Lekha Nair who handed over the annual report to Minister Larose, for onward submission to the National Assembly as required under the act.

Present at the handing over were the chairman of the SPF Board of trustees Patrick Payet and SPF staff members.

The Financial Statements were prepared under the International Financial Reporting Standards and was audited by Pool and Patel Chartered Accountants, certified by the Auditor General.

Mrs Nair stated that SPF’s core function is to assure its members of a monthly pension for life when they attain retirement age.

“The annual report gives details of all our activities, including our financial performance.  We have done so much better than last year. In the world of pension even though we have done well, the contribution increase is still a must for the sustainability of the fund in the future,” she said.

Now that the audit is completed, SPF wishes to inform its members that their statement of accounts for the year 2016 will be dispatched individually to them in the coming weeks. All member accounts for both mandatory and voluntary contributions have been credited with an interest of 3.5 per cent for 2016.

For 2016, SPF recorded a surplus of R261 million, and a total net worth of R2.7 billion as a result of an increase in member’s Fund by R119 million.