STATE pension fund Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) reported on July 20 it ended 2017 with P94.7 billion in net income, a 69-percent improvement from P56.1 billion in 2016, based on the latest audited financial statement.
The growth was largely accounted for by income from financial assets, which almost doubled at P59.1 billion compared to the P30.2 billion posted for the same period in 2016.
In particular, the increase came from the gains on valuation of traded stocks for 2017, which reached P37.3 billion, reversing the loss of P516.2 million the prior year.
The stock market had a stellar year in 2017 as Philippine equities posted a record high of 8,558.4 points.
Income from insurance climbed nearly 10 percent to reach P107.2 billion beefed up by contributions of members who have reached 1,712,173 as of end December 2017.
Meanwhile, revenue from loans inched up 5 percent to reach P24.6 billion, from P23.4 billion in 2016.
On the expenditure side, GSIS paid close to P94 billion in social insurance claims and benefits, representing an 8-percent growth over prior year’s level of P87.1 billion. These include an increase of P5.21 billion in monthly old-age pension due to more old-age pensioners at 309,308 pensioners in 2017 with an average monthly pension of P11,863.86, from 298,456 in 2016 with an average monthly pension of P11,445.75.
The GSIS’s spending growth was also due to the expanded grant of survivorship benefits at P382.8 million for survivorship claimants in 2017 at 130,766 pensioners with an average monthly pension of P3,491.10, from 128,497 pensioners in 2016 with an average monthly pension of P3,393.33. Likewise, processing of more life insurance claims hit P377.3 million covering 92,055 members in 2017, from 77,827 members in 2016. Retirement claims were at P910.9 million for 37,871 retirees in 2017 from 36,792 in 2016.
Boosted by the increased income, total assets went up by 9 percent at P1.1 trillion.
The Commission on Audit has rendered an unqualified opinion on GSIS’s financial statements for 2017, the sixth since 2011.
For 2018, “our focus is to plug financial leakages to guard the returns and manage our expenses to generate savings,” President and General Manager Jesus Clint Aranas said. “We are also diversifying our investments to improve the returns of our portfolio. It is never good to put all our eggs in one basket.”