AMMAN — The Social Security Investment Fund (SSIF) is
expanding its investments across the Kingdom, with a diversified portfolio of
ventures, most notably a mega agricultural project to grow vegetables and
animal fodder, the fund’s CEO Kholoud Saqqaf told Al-Ghad and Jordan News.
اضافة اعلان
In an interview, Saqqaf noted that managing the Social
Security Corporation’s (SSC) assets is a “tremendous responsibility towards all
pensioners”, stressing that she and her team are applying good governance and
the best international practices, “following strict and transparent procedures,
as well as acceptable risk levels”, and that the fund’s investment decisions
are taken based on clear and transparent guidelines and on “purely investment
criteria.”
Meanwhile, she stated that the fund’s performance “has been
strong despite the economy slowdown. The prudent investment policy and
well-diversified portfolio enabled the SSIF to maintain its asset growth, which
reached JD11.19 billion, and its profits, which reached JD497.5 million as of
the end of 2020, according to the preliminary financial statements”.
These assets, she added, were distributed over different
asset classes: Money market instruments by 13 percent, bonds by 58.2 percent,
loans by 3.6 percent, equity by 14.5 percent, real estate by 6.5 percent, and
tourism by 2.6 percent.
Nationwide expansion
The JD13 million agricultural project, planned for the
southern region of the Kingdom, is one of several planned in the governorates
and is the first scheme in the field implemented by Daman Company for
Investment and Agricultural Industries, which was established by the fund last
year.
Covering an area of 25,000 dunums, the project is designed
to produce vegetables and animal feed and will be managed in cooperation with
specialized companies from the private sector that have the necessary expertise
and track record in developing and marketing such projects.
SSIF-affiliated establishments and investments are also
going green. The fund, according to its CEO, has launched two solar energy
stations to provide electricity to the hotels owned by the SSC, SSC branches,
and the SSIF’s headquarters. The project will reduce the SSC’s annual utility
bill by JD5 million, she said, noting that the third station will be launched
at the end of this week.
The SSIF is currently financing a number of infrastructure
projects across the country through financial lease with a total investment of
JD320 million. They include the Amman new customs center, Tafileh public
hospital, Maan military hospital, and the Bus Rapid Transit project between
Amman and Zarqa.
Also nationwide, the fund in 2020 expanded its real estate
investments to JD717 million through buying additional real estate properties
in different areas with a total value of JD60 million.
The fund, according to Saqqaf, is currently studying
projects and investment opportunities in the infrastructure, health, and
education sectors, in cooperation with the private sector. It is also examining
offers to purchase land and real estate in various governorates of the Kingdom
and opportunities for land development.
In the area of tourism investment, the establishment of a
number of new tourism and leisure facilities in Aqaba have been approved.
Additionally, the SSIF chief said, the renovation of the Crowne Plaza/Petra
Hotel is still underway, and will be open to visitors at the end of this year,
while a number of hotel rooms and suites at the Intercontinental/Aqaba Hotel are
similarly undergoing renovations.
Maintaining good performance
According to Saqqaf, the fund has performed well since its
inception in 2003, with a nominal rate of return on assets of around 5.3
percent. Despite the small size of the Jordanian economy and the fluctuations
of the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE), the fund maintained and developed the size
and value of its assets and “retained a good performance. We do expect a better
performance in the coming years following the global and national economies’
recovery from the pandemic’s consequences,” the SSIF chief added.
On the pandemic’s impact, Saqqaf said some of the SSIF’s
investments “were negatively affected due to the decline in the performance of
the ASE and the tourism sector, in addition to some companies’ delay in
distributing 2019 dividends and the decline in the interest on fixed-income
instruments.”
“However, the SSIF’s strategic distribution of assets within
different investment instruments and sectors and the early measures that the
fund took have significantly mitigated that negative impact, especially on the
most vulnerable sectors.”
The fund’s main investment is in Treasury bonds, which
currently constitutes 58.2 percent of the fund’s portfolio with varying
maturities and a 6.1 percent rate of return, the highest on investment
instruments invested in by the fund compared with the associated low level of
risk.
Asked to outline the future outlook of the fund, the CEO
said that the SSIF, “as a long-term strategic investor, is keen to channel its
investments to the (country’s) various vital sectors to achieve a meaningful
return within acceptable risk levels and in partnership with the private sector
in the agricultural, education, and health fields, in addition to the current
investments in tourism, mining, telecommunications, banks, conventional and
renewable energy, and development zones.”
She said that the fund “deeply believes that the best way to
pursue good business is through cooperating with the private sector, based on
well-structured partnerships, with an appetite to consider major projects
launched at a national level.”
Accordingly, Saqqaf underlined memoranda of understanding
signed with a number of investors to examine “investment opportunities and mega
projects”.
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