Ammon News - The value of assets held by the Social Security Investment Fund (SSIF), the investment arm of the Social Security Corporation (SSC), picked up by 7.5 per cent in the first 6 months of 2021 to JD12 billion against JD11.2 billion in the same period of 2021, said its CEO Kholoud Saqqaf in a statement on Tuesday.
Breaking down the fund's investment portfolios, Saqqaf indicated that bonds make up the largest chunk of the fund's assets accounting for 58.1 per cent of the total, followed by stocks 17.9pct, financial market instruments 10.4pct, real estate investments 6.1pct and finally ventures in the tourism domain at 2.5pct.
Pursuing a diverse investment portfolio enabled the fund to post "good" financial results by capitalizing on the potential of the local market, the SSIF top executive indicated. She added that the fund's revenue in the January-June period jumped to JD313 million, signaling a major growth of 24.5pct from the JD251 million recorded in the same period of 2020.
She pointed out that the growth in revenue was mainly driven by higher returns from bonds, financial market instruments and dividends collected from companies in which the SSIF has equity.
Furthermore, Saqqaf said a bullish Amman Stock Exchange since the beginning of the current year reflected positively on the fund's stock portfolio, which recorded book profits amounting to about 5JD25 million against book losses of JD314 million for the same period last year.
As for investment in bonds, the SSIF CEO indicated that the return on the entire portfolio amounted to about JD196 million compared with JD188 million in the first half of 2020, signaling a return rate of 6 per cent.
The ratio, according to Saqqaf, is one of the highest rates compared with those on other investment instruments.