While SSIF total income declines in Q1 2020, interest-based income jumps by JD15.2m — CEO

AMMAN — During the first quarter of 2020, the Social Security Investment Fund (SSIF) generated JD112.4 million, compared with JD165.9 million in the first quarter of 2019, SSIF CEO Kholoud Saqqaf said on Tuesday, attributing this drop to some companies’ delay in distributing 2019 dividends. 

In a statement, Saqqaf said that, despite this decline, the income generated from interests on portfolios of bonds, loans and monetary market tools totalled JD116.3 in the January-March period of 2020, marking a JD15.2 million increase when compared to the first quarter of 2019.

The CEO also announced that the fund’s total assets reached JD10.9 billion on March 31 of this year.

These assets are distributed to long-term investments in several sectors vital to the national economy, such as the mining, telecommunications, banking, traditional and renewable energy, and development and tourism sectors, as well as other investments in shares, bonds and monetary market tools, she noted.

She also pointed to the SSIF’s measures in supporting national efforts to curb the negative impacts of the pandemic by directing its representatives in boards of directors of banks and companies to donate to the Himmat Watan Fund.

The SSIF is currently considering investments in several major projects announced by the Public-Private Partnership Unit, including the Aqaba-Amman desalination and water transport project (the national carrier project), the CEO noted.

Following Royal directives regarding the importance of agricultural projects and investments in the health and pharmaceutical sectors, the fund is also considering implementing several agricultural schemes and contributing to several national entrepreneurial companies with the aim of realising revenues, stimulating the economy and creating jobs, Saqqaf said.