SHAH ALAM: Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has announced a dividend rate of 5.5% on traditional savings in 2023, with a total payout amounting to RM50.3 billion.
Meanwhile, Shariah Savings’ dividend rate was 5.4%, with a total dividend of RM7.5 billion.
For 2022, EPF declared a dividend rate of 5.35% on conventional savings, with a total payout of RM45.44 billion, and a dividend rate of 4.75% on Shariah savings, with a total payout of RM5.7 billion.
EPF dividends on conventional savings in the last 10 years were 6.35% in 2013, 6.75% (2014), 6.4% (2015), 5.7% (2016), 6.9% (2017), 6.15% (2018), it was 5.45%. % (2019), 5.2% (2020).
For Shariah savings, it recorded dividends of 6.4% in 2017, 5.9% in 2018, 5% in 2019, 4.9% in 2020 and 5.65% in 2021.
EPF chief executive officer Ahmad Zulkarnain Ong said the rise in the Sharia dividend rate was mainly due to investments in technology companies, particularly the Magnificent Seven stocks.
“If you look at the U.S. financial markets in particular, the (conventional and sharia) rates converged because much of the performance was driven by the Magnificent 7, which refers to seven high-tech companies. This includes Nvidia. By generative artificial intelligence.
“And with many high-tech companies becoming Shariah compliant, we have seen an increase in Shariah (portfolio) returns,” he told reporters after the EPF financial results briefing here.
However, Ahmad Zulkarnain added that both portfolios will never fully converge as one will always be higher than the other.
On the issue of proposed EPF contributions for civil servants, Ahmad Zulkarnain said there may not be any major changes even if the group becomes a member.
He added that the issue is still being considered and discussed as to whether there will be any policy changes and whether EPF will become the statutory body to manage the fund.
“We cannot say that civil servants will be members of the EPF considering it is not yet a policy.
“If the EPF is indeed a statutory body to manage, I don’t expect it to change much in the way it does business,” he said, adding that the number of new civil servants joining the public sector will be higher than the current number from the private sector. He added that the number is relatively small compared to other members. sector.
“The number of people who have joined the civil service is about 30,000, which is a very small number compared to the current membership of 16 million, and what we need to do[to adapt to change]is Almost none,” said Ahmad Zulkarnain.