SHAH ALAM (March 3): The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has declared a dividend rate of 5.5% for conventional savings for 2023, higher versus 2022’s 5.35% in 2022, with a payout amounting to RM50.3 billion.
The EPF’s dividend for conventional savings has ranged from a low of 5.2% (2020) to a high of 6.9% (2017).
Meanwhile, the dividend rate for shariah savings for 2023 stood at 5.4%, with a total payout of RM7.5 billion.
This brings 2023’s total payout to RM57.8 billion — a 13% rise from RM51.14 billion in 2022.
The country’s largest pension fund posted a gross investment income (net of unrealised forex and hedging impact) of RM67.39 billion in 2023, versus RM55.3 billion in 2022.
EPF chief executive officer Ahmad Zulqarnain Onn, who took office on Feb 19 after his predecessor Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan departed for his appointment as Minister of Finance II, said the equities asset class contributed RM39.45 billion, or 59% of the fund’s investment income, higher compared to the RM30.54 billion in 2022.
Ahmad Zulqarnain said public equity contributed RM34.31 billion in investment income, while private equity was at RM5.14 billion.
The equity asset class constitutes 42% — 38% public equity and 4% private equity — of the fund’s total assets under management (AUM) of RM1.14 trillion as at end-December 2023.
Fixed income (46% of AUM) contributed RM19.74 billion or 29% of gross investment income, while real estate and infrastructure's (7% of AUM) contribution stood at RM6.03 billion or 9% of investment income, followed by money market (5% of AUM) with RM2.17 billion or 3% of investment income.
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