New push for pension funds in the region to pool resources

A task force from pension funds in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania is expected to provide pathways for how domestic resources can be mobilised across borders for development purposes. The task force which has roped in Kenya's National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and the Public Service Superannuation Scheme (PSSF), would work by lobbying funds to be invested in ideal infrastructure projects in the region.

Other pension funds in the taskforce are NSSF Uganda, NSSF Tanzania, PSSF Tanzania and Workers Compensation Fund (Tanzania).

"We already have a taskforce together that, can we as pension fund begin to think about not NSSF Uganda investing in Uganda but a pool of pension funds in East Africa investing in East Africa," said Patrick Ayota, Managing Director NSSF Uganda, during a briefing on the upcoming All Africa Pension Summit to be held in Kampala, Uganda, on November 5-7.

Referencing NSSF Uganda's plan to invest in the Sh156 billion (41.2 billion) in the 95-kilometre Kampala Jinja Expressway, Ayota detailed the need for countries in the region to start looking inward for resource mobilisation.

He cited Ethiopia's Gerd Dam, which is partly built through domestic resources raised by way of public bonds and a 680-metre-long bridge in Tanzania supported by the Chinese government and Tanzania's NSSF.

"We have been receiving funding from a lot of our development partners. However, due to the realignment of the geo-global politics, these traditional sources of foreign funding for Africa can no longer sustain the pace at which we require," he said.

Ayota expressed the need to increase savings as he compared the region to Asian economies such as South Korea, China and Vietnam, whose rate is around 27 per cent. He pointed out that there is room in low-income households. "It is a lie that the informal sector does not save; they do. They save in cows, land and goats. Can we help them save money so that we can monetise the savings part, and there are examples of pension funds that are doing that," he said.