Ammon News - The Social Security Investment Fund (SSIF), the investment arm of the Social Security Corporation (SSC), had assets totaling JD14.2 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2023, up from JD13.8 billion in the same period in 2022.

The SSIF's Chief Executive Officer Ezzeddine Kanakrieh said in a statement on Tuesday that the growth was a result of the JD225 million revenue made from the fund's various investments and the JD124 million evaluation of the strategic equity portfolio, in addition to the SSC's surpluses, which amounted to JD65 million.

He indicated that the fund's revenue in the first quarter of 2023 increased by 28 percent compared to the same period of 2022 as a result of the investment portfolios' strong performance, adding that revenue growth mainly stemmed from the income generated from portfolios of fixed income instruments with a value of JD166 million, of which JD133 million were returns from bonds and JD59 million were from stocks.

Kanakrieh indicated that most of the strategic companies to which the SSIF contributes have recently announced high cash dividends last year compared to previous years, noting that the fund's share of those dividends was at JD152 million, the highest the fund has ever made since its establishment.

He added that the comprehensive revenue (the fund's revenue from various investments and the evaluation of the strategic equity portfolio) rose to JD349 million at the end of the first quarter of the current year, compared to JD330 million during the same period last year with a growth rate of 5.8 percent.

The fund’s portfolios were distributed in investment instruments with good and stable returns within acceptable levels of risk and the ranges laid out in the investment policy, most notably the bond portfolio, which constituted 54.8 percent of the fund’s total portfolio, followed by the equity portfolio with 18.4 percent, the financial market instruments portfolio with 13.7 percent, the real estate investments portfolio with 5.8 percent, the loan portfolio with 3.2 percent and the tourism investment portfolio with 2.3 percent.