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PETALING JAYA: The Employees Provident Fund declared a good dividend despite challenging economic conditions, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
“EPF announced a dividend of 5.7%, amounting to RM37.08bil to contributors for 2016.
“The payout is good enough despite the challenging conditions last year, when many countries faced sluggish growth,” Najib said on his blog at www.najibrazak.com.
He added that the economy was made worse by uncertainties and policy changes in Europe as well as the United States.
“Congratulations to everyone at EPF, which continues to ensure good returns on investment,” Najib said.
On Saturday, EPF’s announcement of a 5.7% dividend for 2016 was a slightly lower figure compared with 6.4% in the previous year.
In fact, it fell below the 6% mark for the first time since 2010, when only a 5.80% dividend was declared.
Despite that, its dividend payout of RM37.08bil was still one of the highest in the last decade, second only to RM38.24bil in 2015.
Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations (Fomca) secretary general Datuk Paul Selvaraj lauded efforts that ensured the fund continued to remain stable.
“Any EPF contributor would hope for the best dividends, but they need to understand EPF needs to balance the security and risk taken”, he said.
Malaysian Employers Federation executive director Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan also lauded EPF’s ability to declare such a respectable dividend.
“Considering the volatile global regional and local economic conditions, the 5.7 % dividend was indeed commendable.
EPF chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman said that this was a “commendable achievement” considering a much tougher market environment.
Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/02/20/pm-good-epf-payout-despite-challenges/#BiYJsRp7pBP2UEkS.99
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