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PSPF

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Tanzania PSPF

The Public Service Pensions Fund (PSPF) of Tanzania is a social security scheme established in 1999 to provide for collection of contributions and payment of terminal benefits to members.

Membership to the Fund is open to any person who has been employed in the formal and informal sector.

PSPF Schemes

The Fund is operating two schemes: the PSPF Main Scheme, which is mandatory and the PSPF Supplementary Scheme of which membership is voluntary.

PSPF Main Scheme

The PSPF Main Scheme is a defined benefit social security scheme operating on social insurance principles, which includes the following benefits:

– Old Age benefits
– Death benefits
– Invalidity benefits
– Funeral Grants
– Withdrawal in respect of marriage, maternity, emigration

PSPF Supplementary Scheme

The PSPF Supplementary Scheme is a defined contribution scheme, which includes the following benefits:

– Education benefits
– Entrepreneurial Support Benefits
– Retirement Benefits
– Death Benefits
– Invalidity Benefit and
– Withdrawal Benefits

Other PSPF Services

– Housing loan facility to members who have at most 5 years before statutory retirement in which the Fund advances up to 50% of the member’s gratuity calculated at the time of application.
– Mortgage facility to members who have contributed to the Fund for not less than 5 years equivalent to 60 months may benefit as they are guaranteed by the Fund to secure a housing loan at a rate of 12% from Azania Bank, Exim Bank and CRDB. The loan is repaid on monthly basis for a period up to 25 years.
– Houses owned by PSPF which are open for sale to the public. At the moment, the available houses are located in Morogoro, Tabora, Mtwara, Shinyanga and Dar es Salaam. The Fund is aiming to build low cost houses in all regions in Tanzania.

PSPF Investment Portfolio

One of the core functions of PSPF is to invest the money available in the Fund in different investment opportunities. The investment guidelines are provided by the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) to ensure that the Fund doesn’t take too much risk in a single investment.

Accordingly, PSPF can only invest in the following investment categories with the following maximum % limits:

– Government securities (20–70%)
– Direct loans to the government (10%)
– Commercial paper, promissory notes and corporate bonds (20%)
– Real estate (30%)
– Ordinary and preference shares (20%)
– Infrastructure investments (25%)
– Deposits with banks and financial institutions (35%)
– Collective schemes (30%)
– Loans to corporate and cooperative societies (10%)

Gabriel Silayo, Director for Planning and Investment at PSPF, explained to TanzaniaInvest: “According to the [BOT] policy, we include short and long-term investments but we always have to try to match the assets and liabilities […] so that we can always be liquid to pay our members and our long-term liabilities.”

The short-term investments in the PSPF portfolio consist of bank deposits, short-term Tanzanian treasury bills and government papers. Long-term investments in the PSPF portfolio include treasury bonds with up to 15 years maturity.

Silayo added that PSPF also invests in the Tanzanian stock market and in real estate, which represents 25% of the Fund’s investment portfolio.

PSPF Towers Real Estate Project

In 2015, PSPF completed its major real estate project, the PSPF Towers, which are the tallest buildings in Tanzania and the 5th tallest buildings in Africa.

The Towers are located in Dar es Salaam and offer for sale 2 types of apartments: normal apartments and duplex apartments.

For 3 bedrooms apartments, the price ranges between USD350,000 to USD500,000, inclusive of VAT at 18%.

For offices, the price is USD 2,200 per square meter. Only the ground floor and mezzanine are available for rent for shops and other commercial activities.