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SHAH ALAM, March 3 — The Employees Provident Fund’s (EPF) achievement in declaring a dividend rate of 6.30 per cent for conventional savings for 2024 — the highest since 2017 — is owed to the fact that it is an independent body and not influenced by any party, including those in the government.
Economist and Universiti Sains dan Teknologi Malaysia lecturer, Prof Barjoyai Bardai, said EPF is free to make investments of up to RM1.5 trillion without any involvement from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“What’s most important is that the management of funds can be successfully carried out without outside interference. The RM1.5 trillion investment is not a small sum, and it isn’t easy to get such huge returns, but EPF has proven its capability in this field,” he said.
“The fund’s management team is able to make decisions based on the fundamentals,” he added. “Therefore, no one has dabbled into EPF’s affairs — except for when the allowance was made for early withdrawals, which was done before the current prime minister came into office.”
“Due to this, EPF failed to meet its target of being able to provide retirees with savings of RM200,000 and some six million of them now have less than RM10,000,” he told Media Selangor.
On March 1, EPF announced a higher dividend rate of 6.30 per cent for both conventional and shariah savings for 2024, bringing the total payout to RM73.24 billion. The performance was attributed to a recovery in global and domestic markets, resilient economic growth, and sound portfolio management.
