The Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) asset base grew by 8.6% to N$147.9 billion for the financial year ended 31 March 2022, up from N$136.2 billion recorded in the comparable period.
The fund, which received an unqualified audit opinion for the period, recorded a 1.2% increase in member contributions to N$4.51 billion from N$4.46 billion for the period under review, despite a 2.4% decline in active membership from 101,027 members to 98,623.
GIPF also recorded a decline in net investment income from N$28 billion recorded in 2021 to N$13 billion.
“The Fund has a liability-driven investment strategy that is comprised of a robust Asset Liability Modelling (ALM) process. The ALM feeds into the risk and return parameters known as the Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA), which GIPF, as a long-term investor, uses to implement its investment strategy. The ALM process allows the Fund to adapt to prevailing economic market conditions relative to its liabilities and factors in variables that will ensure that GIPF not only safeguards the assets of the Fund but also grows them through investing in return-seeking investment opportunities,” said GIPF.
The statutory pension fund, which provides guaranteed pension and related benefits to civil servants, and employees of participating employers in Namibia, paid out N$5.54 billion to its members, an increase of 7.5% from N$5.15 billion prior year.
The GIPF’s core mandate is to ensure that pension and related benefits are paid once they mature, and that income, in the form of member contributions, is invested wisely to generate returns.
“As a defined benefit pension fund, GIPF provides guaranteed benefits to its members as defined by the Rules of the Fund. Therefore, sufficient assets are needed to cover the payment of liabilities that stretch far into the future,” said the organisation.
