The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has declared an interest rate of 22.53% for the financial year 2025/26, significantly increasing the return credited to members’ savings from the 13.5% declared for the previous financial year.
This is the highest interest rate in the 40-year history of the Fund. A total of Shs 5.44 trillion will be paid out to members’ accounts.
The rate was announced on Thursday during NSSF’s 14th Annual Members’ Meeting in Kampala, following the Fund’s financial performance for the year ended June 30, 2026.
The declaration means members will receive a substantially higher return on their qualifying balances, after the Fund recorded strong growth in assets and investment income during the year.
NSSF Managing Director Patrick Ayota said the Fund’s total assets increased by Shs6.86 trillion to Shs32.87 trillion during the financial year, putting it on course towards its Vision 2030 target of Shs80 trillion.
The Fund collected Shs2.42 trillion in member contributions, up from Shs2.13 trillion in 2024/25.
NSSF also reported that it now has 3.6 million registered members, although about 2.7 million currently have balances on their accounts. Ayota said many of the remaining accounts belong to members who have already received their benefits.
The Fund’s total income rose sharply during the year. Earlier reporting by Daily Monitor showed that income increased from Shs3.51 trillion to about Shs6.51 trillion, while assets grew from Shs26 trillion to about Shs32.8 trillion.
Ayota said NSSF’s investments continued to play a major role in its financial performance, with Shs4.32 trillion invested in Uganda, about 76% of it in government bonds.
“We impact the nation in three ways: through our investments, our operations, and our payouts to members,” Ayota said.
The Fund said it paid Shs1.549 trillion in benefits during the financial year, up from about Shs1.3 trillion the previous year. The average turnaround time for benefit payments also fell to about 4.5 days, compared with nearly two weeks in 2021/22.
The Auditor General, Edward Akol, said KPMG Certified Public Accountants had audited the Fund’s financial statements on his behalf.
Akol said the audit covered NSSF’s financial position as at June 30, 2026, its changes in net assets and reserves, cash flows and accompanying notes.
“In my opinion, the accompanying financial statements present the true and fair view of the financial position of the Fund,” Akol said.
NSSF unveils Vision 2035
At the meeting, Ayota also unveiled NSSF’s Vision 2035, which he said is built around increasing both Ugandans’ willingness and capacity to save.
“Our Vision 2035 strategy is built on two pillars: creating a willingness to save and creating the capacity to save. It’s not enough to tell people to save. We must also give them the ability to do so,” he said.
The Fund said more than 575,000 people have participated in its financial literacy programmes since 2019, including more than 137,000 during 2025/26. Its digital financial-literacy content reached more than 14.4 million people during the year.
NSSF has also been expanding its reach beyond traditional salaried workers, including through voluntary savings products and plans targeting Ugandans in the diaspora.
The Fund is Uganda’s mandatory social-security scheme for employees in the private sector who are not covered by the government pension scheme.
The 22.53% declaration comes after NSSF paid 13.5% for 2024/25, which at the time represented a five-year high. It also surpasses the previous record of 15% set in FY2017/18.