EPF’s investments stand at RM1.1 trillion, says Steven Sim
THE Employees Provident Fund’s (EPF) total investments stood at RM1.1 trillion as of August 31, 2023, Deputy Finance Minister II Steven Sim said.
Sim said that of the amount, average domestic investments stood at 64.9%, including 24.4% in the domestic-listed equities.
He said besides the EPF, other government-linked investment companies (GLIC), including Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), Retirement Fund (Incorporated) (Kwap), Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH) and Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT), invested more than 60% of their investment fund in the domestic market for the period from 2019 to August 31 this year.
He said as of end-August, PNB’s total investment fund stood at RM332 billion and its average domestic investment was 84.3%, of which, 74.4% was in domestic-listed equities.
“Kwap’s total investment fund was RM167 billion and the average domestic investment stood at 79.3%, of which, 45.2% was in the domestic-listed equities,” he said during the question and answer session at the Dewan Rakyat today.
Sim was responding to Jimmy Puah Wee Tse’s (Tebrau-PH) question about the amount invested by GLCs and GLICs (Government-Linked Investment Companies) in Malaysia and abroad and whether the investments would be in line with the government’s aspirations to strengthen the equity market in Malaysia.
He said as of August this year, LTH’s investment totalling RM91 billion with 90.1% invested in the domestic market, of which, 18.3% was in domestic-listed equities while LTAT invested its entire investment fund, which stood at RM10.5 billion, in the domestic market, of which, 52% was in domestic-listed equities.
Sim said that based on the strategic asset allocation, between 15.8% and 62.7% of GLIC’s investment funds were in the domestic-listed equities on Bursa Malaysia on average.
He said the country’s sovereign wealth fund manager Khazanah Nasional Bhd made RM9.2 billion domestic investments for the period from 2019 to 2022 and this was equivalent to 32.5% of its total investment worth RM28.3 billion.
“In this regard, Khazanah’s role was focused on creating added value through active stewardship in its investment companies to support and strengthen these companies’ market value.
“Besides that, Khazanah’s focus was also on strategic and development assets such as the aviation and tourism sectors that were facing challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
As of December 31, 2022, Khazanah’s total investment portfolio with realisable asset value amounted to RM122.5 billion, including RM81.2 billion or 66.3% in domestic holdings.
Sim said GLCs investments were more focused on domestic capital expenditure for companies’ expansion, including the purchase of assets for businesses and operations.
The deputy minister said such GLCs included Khazanah’s units, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Malaysian Airport Holdings Bhd and Telekom Malaysia Bhd.
He said the Ministry of Finance (MOF) would continue to support Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s calls for GLICs to increase investments in the country.
“The ministry believes that based on the allocation of their respective strategic assets, GLICs would remain committed to making investments in the country, including in Bursa Malaysia where GLICs participation is seen to be able to strengthen the local equity market,” he said.
He said as of September 25, 2023, the size of the Malaysian equity market was valued at RM1.78 trillion, an increase of RM42.68 billion or about 2.5% compared with RM1.74 trillion on December 31, 2022.
Sim said GLICs participation in Malaysia’s equity market represented 7.7% of the total average daily traded value in focused sectors such as banking, commodity-related industries and others.
According to the MOF’s Economic Outlook 2024 report, Bursa Malaysia’s transaction performance for this year was better than last year with a 14.4% increase in the number of units transacted to 559.6 billion units from 489.4 billion units last year.
The average daily transactions also grew by 15.1% to 3.5 billion units from 3 billion units previously. – Bernama, November 19, 2023.