KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is expected to announce its dividend rate for 2023 early next month.
"The dividend will most likely be announced in early March," a source told the New Straits Times Press.
An analyst projected the rate would be between 5.5 per cent and 6.5 per cent, higher than 2022's 5.35 per cent for conventional savings and 4.75 per cent for syariah savings.
"EPF has a more sustainable economic scale with assets under management of RM1.1 trillion. It gives EPF advantages in terms of investment options and negotiations with external fund managers," said UniKL Business School economic analyst Associate Professor Dr Aimi Zulhazmi Abdul Rashid.
"However, due to the large size of the investment fund, it has to work harder to get a high return in terms of ringgit, even if the percentage is small.
"For example, for every one per cent in dividend, EPF has to pay RM11 billion and this is challenging enough in the current economic situation.
"EPF is expected to provide a better dividend for 2023 of between 5.5 and 6.5 per cent," he said.
EPF recorded an investment income of RM47.86 billion in the nine months ended Sept 30 last year, an increase of 33 per cent compared with RM36.04 billion in the same period in 2022.
In the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2023, total investment income was RM14.67 billion. This was an increase of RM2.38 billion compared with the same quarter in 2022.
Last month, the fund announced the appointment of Ahmad Zulqarnain Onn as its new chief executive officer.
Ahmad Zulqarnain, who previously led Permodalan Nasional Bhd as president and group chief executive, succeeded Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan, who was appointed finance minister. He had led the EPF since March 1, 2021.