SHAH ALAM (March 3): The Employees Provident Fund's (EPF) assets under management (AUM) returned moving northbound in 2023 to RM1.14 trillion, with the absence of special withdrawals.
This followed the pension fund’s first-ever decline in AUM back in 2022 to RM1 trillion, from RM1.01 trillion in 2021.
During the fund’s financial performance briefing on Sunday, EPF chief executive officer Ahmad Zulqarnain Onn said that withdrawals stood at RM50.6 billion in 2023, compared to RM91 billion in 2022 — RM44.7 billion of which was due to Covid-19 related withdrawals.
Adding in the Covid-19 related withdrawals of RM14.5 billion in 2020 and RM86.2 billion in 2021, a total of RM145.4 billion was withdrawn by members under the four specially permitted withdrawal schemes — namely, i-Lestari, i-Sinar and i-Citra and the special withdrawal facility.
Total withdrawals in 2020 and 2021 stood at RM131.1 billion and RM58.3 billion respectively.
Amid the lower withdrawals, total contributions in 2023 rose to RM102.8 billion, from RM87.8 billion in 2022 and RM78.7 billion in 2021.
Net contributions in 2023 came out to RM52.2 billion, versus net withdrawals of RM3.2 billion in 2022 and RM52.4 billion in 2021, and net contributions of RM20.1 billion in 2020.
Meanwhile, the EPF’s membership base continued to expand in 2023 to 16.1 million — comprising 8.5 million active members and 7.6 million inactive members — from 15.7 million in 2022.
Ahmad Zulqarnain said membership growth was fuelled by extensive member acquisition efforts, coupled with the reopening of economic activities at full force.
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