KUALA LUMPUR (March 21): Lembaga Tabung Haji declared a profit distribution rate of 3.25% after zakat for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2024 (FY2024), breaking its previous four-year streak of declaring 3.1%.

A total of RM2.92 billion will be distributed to 9.54 million of the pilgrimage fund’s depositors, versus RM2.72 billion to 9.15 million depositors in FY2023, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Dr Mohd Na'im Mokhtar.

He said the profit distribution rate is the fund’s highest in seven years.

Tabung Haji declared a zakat of 2.58% for FY2024, bringing total zakat payments to all state Islamic religious councils on behalf of depositors to RM99.35 million.

Total investment income for FY2024 stood at RM4.56 billion, up 6.29% as compared to RM4.29 billion in FY2023.

As at end-December 2024, Tabung Haji’s total assets under management amounted to RM95.06 billion, while its fund size (deposits) stood at RM91.75 billion.

Fixed income instruments, namely sukuk — which made up 57% of the fund’s assets — contributed 50% of its income, according to Tabung Haji managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Syed Hamadah Syed Othman.

However, he noted that equity — 27% of Tabung Haji’s assets — notably generated 35% of the fund’s income.

This was followed by money market instruments (9% of assets) contributing 5% of income, and real estate (7% of assets) contributing 10% of income.

“Tabung Haji consistently makes prudent investment decisions to protect depositors’ savings while simultaneously enhancing investment value. The decision to improve the strategic asset allocation (SAA) has yielded good returns from the stock market,” Syed Hamadah said.

In terms of geography, he noted that over 90% of Tabung Haji’s investments are domestic, which generated 91.06% of investment income.

Syed Hamadah is confident Tabung Haji will achieve a stronger performance for 2025, despite heightened risks of a global economic slowdown this year.