As at March 31, the total assets of the National Housing Trust (NHT) stood at $78.72 billion, reflecting an increase of 8.03 per cent over the previous financial year.

The major areas of increase were: loans outstanding of $49.65 billion, up from $45.28 billion, and inventories of $3.65 billion, up from $1.83 billion the previous year.

According to the NHT's 2005/06 annual report, which was tabled recently in the House of Representatives, investment securities of $9.63 billion ended the year lower than the $12.25 billion balance at the end of the previous year, as did cash equivalents, which fell by $222 million to $4.92 billion.

"Income declined from $7.1 billion in 2004/05 to $6.7 billion in 2005/06. This decline was due to the lowering of interest rates charged on NHT loans and the decline in interest rates paid on investment instruments," the document outlined.

The major contributors to income were interest on loans receivable of $3 billion, down 10 per cent and interest on investments, $3.2 billion, declining by three per cent.

Operating expenses rise

On the expenditure side, operating expenses increased by 6.8 per cent to $2.3 billion and was mainly the result of inflationary pressures.

Special subsidies and grants moved to $6 billion, increasing from $1 billion the previous year.

The special grant to the education sector of $5 billion accounted for this large increase, the report points out.

Meanwhile, there was a significant increase in contributions collected for the year with a total of $8.4 billion, up by 19 per cent over the previous year.

"This was due to a combination of: utilisation of more aggressive collection strategies; increases in loan limits (which made loans more attractive and encouraged greater compliance by contributors) and wage increases in the private sector," the document stated.

Also, the amnesty extended to companies over the last three months of the financial year also proved productive.

In addition, net movement in loans receivable increased from $3.6 billion in 2004/05 to $4.7 billion for the review period.

The post-Hurricane Ivan moratorium, which was extended to customers in 2004/05, resulted in lower collections over that period. New loans were the main source of increased collections for the period.