KUALA LUMPUR (April 28): Lembaga Tabung Haji has announced a profit distribution of 3.1% after zakat for 2022, maintaining the rate for the third consecutive year.
This brings full-year distribution to RM2.65 billion, from RM2.46 billion a year ago.
The pilgrim fund recorded gross income of RM3.85 billion in 2022, compared with RM3.72 billion a year ago, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Dr Mohd Na'im Mokhtar at a press conference.
It is noted that amid the higher gross income posted by the fund for 2022, Tabung Haji’s hajj financial support was low last year at around RM200 million, with circa 14,000 pilgrims who went to hajj in 2022.
This year, the number of pilgrims is expected to rise to 31,000, with an early estimation of the financial support at close to RM400 million and potentially higher, said Tabung Haji chief executive officer Datuk Seri Amrin Awaluddin.
The fund is still appealing for additional pilgrim quota this year, Amrin said, adding that it is in its second year of implementing targeted hajj financial support focusing on the B40 and M40 groups.
Costs of performing hajj has jumped 25% to RM28,632 per person in 2022 compared with RM22,900 pre-pandemic in 2019, resulting in hajj financial support accounting for 55% to 65% of a pilgrim's hajj costs managed under Tabung Haji.
That cost is expected to rise to RM30,850 this year, Tabung Haji said in March this year.
On performance, Tabung Haji said its fixed income (sukuk) total income rose to RM2.22 billion, making up 57% of gross income.
Equities contribution rose to RM916 million (24% of total gross income). Property investment income came in at RM462 million, while Islamic money market income was recorded at RM259 million.
“The aggressive interest rate hike especially by the US Federal Reserve has affected the value of sukuk (fixed income assets) in 2022.
“However, this is balanced by the returns generated which is higher than previously,” said Tabung Haji executive director group finance Mustakim Mohamad.
Amid the sharp global interest rate rise, bonds with lower rates have declined in prices as investors dumped them in favour of higher yielding assets. Those who hold the bonds to maturity carry unrealised losses which are booked by the investor only when the assets are monetised.
Meanwhile, Amrin said the fund is expecting to maintain its current asset allocation strategy, which stood at around 60% for fixed income, followed by equities (22%), property investment (9%), Islamic money markets (8%) and others (1%).
“Our investment is for the long term,” said Amrin. “So far we are maintaining the current asset allocation strategy because our responsibility is not [as] an investment fund, it is a savings to fund hajj activities.”
While Tabung Haji’s performance for the first quarter of 2023 has been “encouraging”, Amrin reminded that the fund is not spared from the conditions in the domestic and international economies and financial markets.
In 2022, the number of Tabung Haji depositors rose to 8.7 million from 8.41 million at end-2021, and depositors’ savings rose to RM87.6 billion from RM83.34 billion. The pilgrim fund has targeted to secure RM100 billion in depositors’ savings by 2024, according to its transformation plan launched this month last year.
Tabung Haji said it recorded a 3% drop in operating expenditure in 2022, or around RM679 million, compared with RM700 million in 2021. Total assets rose to RM90.92 billion, from RM88.73 billion in 2021.