EPF reports RM5.2b income in Q2

KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund’s (EPF) investment income rose to RM5.2bil in the second quarter 2008 (Q2) ended June 30.

The EPF, which has a fund size of RM328.2bil, said on Wednesday the Q2 investment income was a 26.3% increase compared to the previous quarter.

“The bulk of this improvement was attributed to income from equities, which doubled from RM1bil to RM2.1bil for the period under review,” it said.

It said most of investments in equities were in the Trade and Services, and Finance sectors.

“Investment in Trade and Services sector increased 2.4% to 37.8% while Finance sector decreased by 3.8% to represent 34.2% of total equity investments,” it said.

EPF chief executive officer Datuk Azlan Zainol said despite the challenging economic scenario, the EPF managed to register strong earnings growth quarter on quarter.

“We will continue to monitor the equities market carefully as it has been an important source of income growth for the Fund,” he said.

Income from Loans and Bonds in Q2 rose 4.2% to RM1.6bil in earnings.

However, income from Malaysian Government Securities (MGS) and money market instruments declined in Q2. Income from MGS declined by RM37.4 million or 3% to RM1.2bil while income from money market instruments fell by RM18.2mil or 8.7% to RM191.5mil.

Property investments fared better, registering a 15.2% increase in income from RM19.7mil in Q1 to RM22.7mil in Q2.

The EPF said in Q2, a total of RM130.4bil or 39.7% of its funds were allocated to Loans and Bonds while RM107.3bil or 32.7% were invested in MGS. When combined, the categories accounted for over 70% of funds allocated by the EPF.