KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) Board declared dividend of 5.65% for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2009, 115 basis points over the 4.50% paid out for 2008

"The dividend rate was declared on the back of the highest ever net income achieved of RM19.63 billion," the EPF said today.

It said FY09 net income was an increase of 34.82% compared with RM14.56  billion in FY08.

EPF chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman said, “Last year was a significant year for the EPF as it rode out the impact of the global financial crisis. While the EPF continues to be challenged by the fragile economic environment, our investments nonetheless delivered a sound performance for the year.”

Of the investments for FY09, 72.53% were devoted to fixed income instruments in line with EPF’s prudent approach to investment, while 27.05% was in equities, and the remainder in property.

As at Dec 31, 2009, its investment portfolio grew 8.55% or RM29.25 billion to RM371.26 billion compared with RM342.01 billion in 2008.

Of the RM371.26 billion, Malaysian government securities accounted for 25.08% (RM93.11 billion), loans and bonds 41.2% (RM152.96 billion), equities 27.05% (RM100.43 billion), money market instrument 6.25% (RM23.21 billion) and property 0.42% (RM1.55 billion).

For the 2009 dividend payout, the EPF required RM3.43 billion to pay a 1% dividend rate as a result of a larger membership base. This represents a 7.86% increase over the amount of RM3.18 billion per 1% dividend rate for 2008.