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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider PERA contributions reach P237-M in Sept.

PERA contributions reach P237-M in Sept.

Published Dec 16, 2021 12:06 pm

The central bank said contributions to the Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA) has reached P237 million in September, up 62 percent year-on-year or from P144 million.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the increase “may be attributed to the BSP and partner providers’ promotion of the retirement savings program for Filipino families, especially those working abroad.”

“We continue to actively promote financial security and encourage more Filipinos to plan for retirement and set aside funds for their sunset years through PERA,” said BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno in a statement Thursday, Dec. 16.

BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno

In the third quarter, there were some 4,001 PERA contributors, of which 70 percent were full-time employees at 2,827. About 15 percent or 590 were self-employed individuals and another 15 percent represented Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) with 584 contributors.

The BSP launched an end-to-end digitalization of PERA in September last year. Seedbox Philippines, the digital platform provider of PERA, is an open-architecture platform that allows individuals to invest in PERA funds from different fund providers depending on their needs.

PERA is a voluntary retirement savings program created under Republic Act No. 9505 that supplements existing retirement benefits from the Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System, and private employers.

The BSP said anyone with a Tax Identification Number can be a PERA contributor. An individual can contribute up to P100,000 while OFWs can participate by as much as P200,000 annually. “By the time the contributor reaches 55 years old and have invested in PERA for at least five years, they can redeem the PERA investment tax-free,” said BSP.

PERA benefits include a five percent income tax credit on the PERA contribution which can be used to pay income tax liabilities. For OFWs, the five percent tax credit can be claimed against any internal revenue tax liability in the country. All income earned from investments and reinvestments are also exempted from taxes on investment income, said the BSP. “PERA assets are not considered assets for insolvency and estate taxes,” it added.

PERA was first implemented in December 2016 but it has been largely unpopular to the working mass and underutilized until the BSP shifted to digital PERA last year.

Contributions have been increasing mainly due to the digitalization of PERA and the “massive” information drive and public campaign it has done in the last year to promote the retirement saving program to Filipinos abroad.

Since September 2020, there were four PERA unit investment trust funds or UITFs that were launched, bringing to seven the total number of PERA UITFs for market players.

Digital PERA is a one-stop-shop for PERA investors. The BSP is targeting to get five million Filipinos to have PERA by 2025.

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