SSB Investments in Shrimp; Citrus Export Drop

The latest data shows citrus was the only major export to go down in 2021, mainly due to a reduction in orange concentrate exports. Since citrus is a main area of Social Security Board investments, News Five asked S.S.B.’s C.E.O., Deborah Ruiz, about the impact on the S.S.B. portfolio, and what other areas they are looking into. 

Deborah Ruiz

Deborah Ruiz, Chief Executive Officer, Social Security Board

“We only have like two non-performing loans and those are the shrimp, and that we are monitoring closely because of the disease that had happened, but we are not in a position where we have to call in the investment. It’s just that we have to give moratorium to the different entities for them to recover. They are having some challenge there but at this point, we have not suffered a loss as such. What our challenge with investment is, is finding viable projects to invest in. Because if we’re asking for contributions, we have to invest it to turn it around, and the interest rates are very low at this time, noh. That is the challenge, finding viable projects to look at. We have looked at how we are going to make monies available out there; we’re even looking at bringing down our threshold. We brought it down from five hundred thousand to three hundred and fifty thousand, so small businesses have the opportunity to apply to Social Security for a loan starting at three hundred and fifty thousand (dollars). We are not equipped to deal with the smaller loans. Those smaller loans are normally channeled through the D.F.C. or the banking system. We deal with investments at this time from three hundred and fifty thousand (dollars) up.”