Incentive benefit for OFW’s bigger in 2017
Disbursements under a voluntary provident program for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) saw double-digit growth last year, the Social Security System (SSS) said on Sunday.
In a statement, the state-run pension fund said it paid out P17.38 million in Annual Incentive Benefits (AIB) under the Flexi Fund program to more than 47,000 OFW members in 2017, up 12.13 percent from a year earlier.
SSS President and CEO Emmanuel Dooc said the number of qualified OFWs with active Flexi Fund accounts also grew by 9.87 percent to 47,284.
Flexi Fund is a voluntary program that allows OFWs to save a portion of their incomes and maximize returns of their investment. It is offered exclusively to OFWs in addition to regular SSS benefits.
Under the program, savings are sourced from payments not lower than P200 that are on top of required maximum SSS contributions. The money is invested in fixed income securities and interest rates are based on the average rates of the SSS’ short-term placements or the 91-day Treasury bill, whichever is higher, and re-priced quarterly.
“It is worth noting that our OFWs are making use of the Flexi Fund program wherein they can invest their savings, which will yield higher returns compared from saving it in the bank for a period of time,” Dooc said.
The SSS chief also noted that members’ equity in 2017 amounted to P732.05 million while actual investment income reached P32.07 million, of which P12.75 million was credited to members’ accounts as guaranteed earnings.
Dooc said the AIB received by each qualified member depends on the Flexi Fund’s year-end net investment income and is distributed based on individual equity shares. It is granted to members with no full Flexi Fund withdrawals or benefit claims within the applicable year.
The maximum AIB credited to a member’s account in 2017 reached P131,475 while the average AIB per individual was P368, the SSS said.
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