State-run Government Service Insurance System said Friday its investment portfolio expanded by 5.2 percent in 2021 to P890.59 billion from P846.4 billion in 2020.
“The growth came primarily from the GSIS’s well-positioned foreign currency denominated investments, particularly in the equities market and the infrastructure sector,” GSIS president and general manager Rolando Macasaet said in report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.
Macasaet said while the pension fund’s peso-denominated investments fell 4.38 percent last year to P633.31 billion from P662.3 billion in 2020, its foreign currency-denominated assets rose to P257.26 billion from P184.1 billion.
Foreign currency-denominated equity investments grew 345 percent from P15.62 billion in 2020 to P69.58 billion in 2021. Investments in foreign-currency denominated cash and short-term time deposits also jumped 236 percent to P22.17 billion from P6.6 billion balance in 2020.
The foreign-currency denominated infrastructure assets of the GSIS also contributed to the growth in the pension fund’s investment portfolio, rising by 50.9 percent from P17.45 billion in 2020 to P26.34 billion in 2021.
Foreign currency-denominated fixed income assets decreased from P144.43 billion in 2020 to P139.17 billion in 2021 because of maturities and market valuation.
The fund was also able to grow its peso-denominated cash assets from P59.34 billion in 2020 to P74.81 billion in 2021. Peso-denominated investments in the equities market grew from P194.08 billion in 2020 to P212.18 billion last year.
“The drop in peso-denominated investments in infrastructure, from P14.52 billion in 2020 to P4.66 billion in 2021, was due to the completion of some projects and divestment [disposal of asset] which yielded for GSIS a gain of P5.11 billion,” Macasaet said.
GSIS’s peso-denominated fixed income investments decreased from P394.34 billion to P341.66 billion in 2021.
Dominguez commended the GSIS under Macasaet’s leadership for efficiently managing the state pension fund to offer more benefits for its members in the government workforce.
Macasaet said in 2021, the GSIS expanded its acceptance of loan payments from members through digital channels to make it more convenient for them amid the pandemic and to improve the pension fund’s collection efficiency.
GSIS included the digital apps of Land Bank of the Philippines and Union Bank of the Philippines as additional electronic payment channels for its members.
The pension fund also enhanced the features of its GSIS Touch mobile app to include tentative computation and application for loans and claims, scheduling of annual pensioner information revalidation and monthly notification on premium and loan payment posting.