Kuala Lumpur: Despite the economic doom and gloom, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) showed a strong investment performance last year.
It announced a dividend rate of 6.10% for conventional savings and 5.65% for shariah savings today.
The 2021 dividend, in fact, is higher than 2020’s rate of 5.2% (conventional) and 4.9% (shariah) and the 5.45% (conventional) and 5% (shariah) dividend declared in pre-pandemic 2019.
It will pay out a total of RM56.72 billion for 2021, with RM50.45 billion for conventional savings and RM6.27 billion for shariah savings.
The bad news is that 48% of EPF members now have less than RM10,000 in their accounts after being allowed to withdraw from the fund to tide over the Covid-19 pandemic.
EPF chairman Ahmad Badri Mohd Zahir said: “With an average three-year real dividend after adjusting for inflation of 4.91% for conventional savings and 4.51% for shariah savings, the EPF had surpassed its strategic target of declaring an average real dividend of at least 2% on a rolling three-year basis.”
Members can check their accounts via i-Akaun or get their statement from EPF kiosks nationwide after March 6.
Given the recovering economy, he said EPF would increase investments in 2022, especially in the domestic financial market so as to catalyse economic activity and assist in the ongoing economic recovery.
Commenting on the performance, Badri noted: “The RM101 billion pandemic-related withdrawals since the year 2020 had resulted in 48% of EPF members having less than RM10,000 in their accounts.
“We hope that this dividend and our continued performance will help us begin the process of rebuilding our members’ retirement savings, as economic recovery takes shape over the course of the year.”
For 2021, therefore, the EPF recorded its first ever negative net contribution (contributions after withdrawals) in 20 years of RM58.2 billion.
As at Dec 31, 2021, the EPF recorded an increase of 6% in total gross investment income to RM67.06 billion from RM63.45 billion in 2020.
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