Macau’s Social Security Fund (SSF) earned 6.18 billion patacas (US$76.4 million) of investment income last year, down from 7.41 billion patacas in 2023, as income from its global portfolios shrank almost 30%.
The fund’s overall investment return dropped to 6.78% from 8.82%.
The SSF released the figures in its annual report published on July 30.
Income from global portfolios, which made up 42.7% of the fund’s 96.87 billion patacas of investable assets at the end of last year, fell to 3.81 billion patacas from 5.4 billion patacas in 2023.
Income from bank deposits, which accounted for 57.3% of assets, climbed to 2.36 billion patacas from 2.01 billion patacas.
Still, the SSF says global financial markets “showed an overall positive trend” last year, supported by “sustained positive economic growth”, lower inflation, central bank rate cuts, and the artificial intelligence boom.
“The fund’s holdings in global equities and bonds all recorded positive returns,” the report says, without disclosing the figures.
The SSF is a 35-year-old mandatory fund that provides financial aid to the poor, old, terminally ill, unemployed and the disabled.
