KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is not in any financial difficulty as has been maliciously claimed by the opposition, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan.
He said if the EPF was in financial difficulties or is making a loss, it would not be paying a dividend at all - more so, a healthy 5.7 per cent dividend for 2016.
Parti Amanah Negara's former member of Parliament, Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad; Parti Keadilan Rakyat's Kelana Jaya MP, Wong Chen; and Democratic Action Party's Seputeh MP, Teresa Kok, had allegedly claimed that the EPF is facing financial troubles, thus declaring a lower dividend rate of 5.7 per cent for 2016, compared to 6.4 per cent the previous year.
The three senior politicians also claimed this was caused by EPF's investment in 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), which they wrongly claimed was worth RM1.72 billion.
Abdul Rahman, who is also Director of Barisan Nasional (BN)’s Strategic Communications, said EPF's exposure to 1MDB was only RM200 million, which was in the 30-year sukuk issued in 2009 and was fully guaranteed by the government and not RM1.72 billion as claimed.
To clarify further, he said, the EPF also has exposure of RM1.5 billion in bonds for two independent power producers (IPPs) - Panglima Power Sdn Bhd and Jimah Energy Ventures Sdn Bhd.
"These bonds were subscribed by EPF in 2003 and 2005 respectively, before 1MDB was founded, and are backed by healthy cash-flow," he said.
He said these two IPPs were previously acquired by 1MDB, but have since been sold in a deal completed in March 2016, which was part of 1MDB's rationalisation exercise.
Hence, these two bonds are no longer associated with 1MDB, he said.
"All three bonds are fixed-income bonds that pay fixed coupons and have never been in default. The EPF has not lost a single sen in them," he stressed.
Additionally, the EPF's remaining RM200 million exposure to 1MDB's government-guaranteed sukuk is just 0.027 per cent of its total assets of RM731 billion, he said.
Therefore, for the three opposition leaders to claim that the EPF is in financial trouble or that 1MDB had caused losses to the EPF is wrong and malicious, Abdul Rahman lashed out.
"As current or former MPs, the three opposition leaders have failed in their sworn duties to be honest to the people when they made such ridiculous claims in their joint statement.
"They must not repeat this in future," he warned.
He said, given historical dividends since 2000, the current global and regional economic situation and the performance of other provident funds and mutual funds in the region, the EPF's 5.7 per cent dividend for 2016 is commendable.
For the nine years from 2000 to 2008, the EPF had recorded an average annual dividend rate of 4.99 per cent, whereas from 2009 to 2016, this average has increased to 6.1 per cent, he said.
"I am confident that with the accelerating gross domestic product growth in the previous two quarters and the recent sharp increases in the Bursa Malaysia index, God willing, the EPF will perform even better for 2017," he said. -- BERNAMA