KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has declared a dividend rate of 6.15 per cent for Conventional Savings 2018, with payout amounting to RM43 billion and 5.9 per cent for Shariah Savings 2018, with a payout amounting to RM4.32 billion.
In total, the payout for 2018 amounts to RM47.31 billion, a marginal decrease of 1.7 per cent from 2017.
“With a real dividend of 3.93 per cent for Simpanan Konvensional and 3.68 per cent for Simpanan Shariah on a rolling three-year basis respectively, the EPF has exceeded its mandate of delivering a dividend of at least 2.5 per cent on a yearly basis and at least 2.0 per cent real dividend on a rolling three-year basis,” the EPF said in a statement today.
“We are very grateful and pleased that we have been able to consistently meet our two strategic investment targets. Beyond the anticipated nominal dividends, more importantly is that we consistently deliver above-inflation returns so that we are able to preserve and enhance the value of our members’ savings over the long term and help them achieve a better retirement future,” its chairman, Tan Sri Samsudin Osman said.
This, he said, was despite 2018 being a difficult year, marked by volatility and a downward trend in global markets, due to the long-standing US-China trade war and four rounds of US interest rate hikes in the year alone.
“Nonetheless, we remained focused on our long-term strategy and our portfolio diversification has provided resiliency and delivered commendable returns to our members,” he said.
Gross investment income for 2018 was RM50.88 billion, out of which a total of RM4.62 billion was attributed to Shariah Savings, proportionate to its share of total Shariah assets, while RM46.26 billion was attributed to Conventional Savings.
The lower income for EPF’s Shariah portfolio in 2018 was due to the underperformance of the telecommunications, construction and oil and gas sectors in the domestic portfolio. – Bernama
