The Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) is expected to announce a dividend rate of 5.5% to 6.5%. It is predicted that there will be an increase for Conventional Savings and Shariah Savings compared to 2022.
According to UniKL Business School's Economic Analyst, Associate Prof Dr Aimi Zulhazmi Abdul Rashid said positive expectations in the distribution of dividend rates will be better in 2023 because the current quarterly performance of the EPF is quite excellent.
EPF has a more sustainable economic scale with assets under management (AUM) of RM1.1 trillion. Therefore, this national retirement fund has advantages in terms of investment options and the negotiation process with external fund managers.
He said again, due to the large size of the investment fund. EPF needs to work harder to get high returns from the ringgit point of view even if the percentage is small. For every one percent dividend, the EPF with assets of RM1.1 trillion has to pay RM11 billion and this is quite challenging in the current economic situation.
EPF is expected to provide a better dividend return with the projection for 2023 being between 5.5% to 6.5%. In addition, the good EPF performance report for each quarter of 2023 is seen to continue to grow well.
Furthermore, the movement of EPF senior management moving to hold a larger portfolio in the Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister's Department at the end of last year also provided an indication of the excellence of EPF management that attracted the attention of the country's leadership.
He added that one of the EPF's biggest challenges is balancing domestic and foreign investment, especially in supporting local companies from the aspect of capital investment in expanding profits and prospering the country.
However, Aimi Zulhazmi said, there are large local companies listed on Bursa Malaysia recording steady profits such as banking institutions, oil and gas and construction despite the sluggish global economy.
Meanwhile, Universiti Putra Malaysia's School of Business and Economics Senior Lecturer, Dr Mohamad Khair Afham Muhamad Senan, said the announcement of the recent dividend increase of Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) could be a benchmark for the possibility that EPF dividends will also increase.
He said that apart from ASNB, EPF is also seen as one of the most stable and safe portfolios, making it remain competitive and expected to remain high compared to the long-term investment benchmark which is fixed deposits.
