The Social Security Fund (abbreviated to FSS in Macao) today (July 26) published the Social Security Fund’s Annual Report 2017 to summarize the work of the FSS.  The Annual Report mentions that 2017 is a breakthrough year for the FSS.  The contribution amount for the first tier, Social Security System, was increased to 90 patacas so as to make both employers and employees take on more responsibilities; and the draft law for the second tier, Non-Mandatory Central Provident Fund System, was passed by the Legislative Assembly in 2017, and it came into effect in the following year.  As a result of the increase in functions, the FSS revised its organizational structure and introduced a series of optimization measures relating to administrative procedures in order to improve the quality of its services.  As of the end of 2017, the net asset value of the FSS was 77.411 billion patacas, and the asset status was stable.

In order to continue to promote the two-tiered social security system, in particular, the implementation of Non-Mandatory Central Provident Fund System, the FSS conducted various publicity and promotion activities in 2017, including visiting a number of gambling enterprises and public utility companies, organizing explanatory sessions for different industries, and holding of FSS Promotion Day, in order to actively encourage employers, employees and individuals to participate in the System and to make savings for their retirement as early as possible for achieving the goal of enjoying their old age.

The Annual Report also disclosed that the total income of the FSS in 2017 was 10.763 billion patacas.  Its funding mainly came from the SAR government’s gaming revenue and 1% sharing, followed by investment-related income, which together accounted for 90% of its revenue.  Benefiting from the increase in gambling tax revenues which led to an increase in government funding, the FSS adjusted the proportion and scale of investment under the premise of the prudent and healthy investment strategies of the FSS so as to achieve better returns.  The return on investment in 2017 was ideal.  Although the SAR Government’s additional funding plan for the FSS was completed in 2016, making 2017’s total income to reduce when compared with that of the previous year, the net asset value of the FSS at the end of 2017 was 77.411 billion patacas, with an increase of 6.739 billion patacas when compared with that of 2016, with an increase of about 9.54%.　　

In terms of the payment of benefits and other allowances, old-age pension and disability pension are still the main ones.  The total amount of benefit payments was about 3.772 billion patacas, and the total number of recipients was 125,150, an increase of 5.5% when compared with that of 2016, and 80% of the recipients received old-age pension, and the number was 102,012 people.

Starting today, the electronic version of the Social Security Fund’s Annual Report 2017 can be downloaded and viewed on the FSS website.