KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 – The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is poised to achieve comparable returns for 2024, provided it maintains its optimal strategy without external interference, said an academician.
Professor Geoffrey Williams, an economist and the provost for research and innovation at the Malaysia University of Science and Technology, expressed confidence that 2024 presented no greater challenges than the previous year, potentially leading to improved performance for the EPF.
He said that the EPF dividend rate of 5.5 per cent for conventional funds for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2023 (FY2023) was good and in line with his expectations of 5.5-6.0 per cent.
The total EPF payout for FY2023 stood at RM57.8 billion; 13 per cent higher than RM51.14 billion in FY2022, he noted.
“This reflects an excellent investment strategy last year by the EPF team under the helm of the previous EPF chief executive officer Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan, who is now Finance Minister II,” Williams said.
He said that the total investment income of RM66.99 billion and the RM57.8 billion payout proved that a good portfolio management strategy involving domestic and overseas assets could continue to perform even in difficult circumstances.
“It also shows that if a separate new Malaysian superfund of similar size was set up by combining underperforming government-linked investment companies, the returns could solve the civil service pensions problems and even provide a Universal Basic Pension for everyone,” he added.
He pointed out that a new Malaysian superfund could even be run by the EPF portfolio managers, which could yield returns akin to those achieved in 2023.
“The sad side is that because of the EPF withdrawals policy, millions of people cannot benefit because their accounts have been depleted,” said Williams.
