Rwanda Social Security Board(RSSB) has reported a profit of Rwf25 billion for the first half of the 2018/19 fiscal year.

The Fund’s director-general, Richard Tusabe, said yesterday at a news briefing that they expect to reach Rwf60 billion in profits before the current fiscal year ends on June 30, 2019.

On investments, he said, the Fund plans an investment outlay of Rwf444 billion in the current financial year. It has so far invested about 206 billion.

RSSB maintains interests in different areas, including in real estate, equity stocks, bank term deposits, treasury bonds and treasury bills, among others.

The Fund says that it will spend Rwf95 billion on members’ benefits and covering health insurance care.

Over the last six months, it was expecting to spend 47 billion, but the expenditure rose to Rwf54.2 billion.

Higher expenses are attributed to the rise in medical care bills.

On the basis of contributions, the Board collected Rwf85 billion in the first half of the this fiscal year against the target of Rwf82 billion.

It targets Rwf126 billion from contributions in this fiscal year.

"We give benefits to pensioners, cover medical expenses for subscribers. But we have to invest too to remain in business and make profits,” he said.

Tusabe said that RSSB will continue to invest in the real estate sector.

"We’ll continue to fill the gap in the real estate sector by taking into account all the levels of our subscribers, including all income levels,” he said.

Tusabe said that they also plan to extend credit to commercial banks interested in investing in low-cost mortgages.

There are people, he said, who complained that "we are constructing houses that are beyond their reach”.

"It’s time that we thought about this segment of our members,” he added.

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