Despite the negative impacts of Covid-19 on the economy since last March, the dividends for the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) could be higher than expected for the year 2020.

Sources close to the EPF have told Free Malaysia Today that the 2020 EPF dividends could be as much as that declared for 2019, or just slightly less. For 2019, the EPF declared a 5.45% dividend for conventional savings and 5% for shariah accounts with a total dividend payout of RM45.82 billion.

The dividends are expected to please contributors as it would be against the general expectation that the payout would be lower due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Although the performance of Bursa Malaysia took a dip as a result of the various movement control orders imposed during 2020, a source stated that the fund’s overall performance made up for this.

“The higher-than-expected dividends were a result of its investments abroad which brought in some good returns,” he said.

All the same, a source highlighted that the dividend had not been finalised yet as the EPF has to take into account the special withdrawals under the i-Lestari and i-Sinar programmes, which were introduced as part of Covid-19 stimulus packages. Usually, the EPF announces its annual dividends after the first week of February each year. However, it is expected that the announcement this year will be delayed a little due to this reason.

(Source: Free Malaysia Today)

• TAGS:
• Covid-19
• Covid-19 Economy
• Employees Provident Fund (EPF)
• EPF
• EPF dividend
• EPF dividend 2019
• EPF Dividend 2020
• EPF Dividends
• EPF i-Sinar
• i-Lestari