IT is that time of the year again when the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) declares its dividend to its 14.59 million contributors.
Over the past 10 years, the provident fund has generally been declaring dividends of more than 6%, irrespective of the performance of the local stock market. There have been only three occasions – 2009,2010 and 2016 – when the EPF’s dividends dipped below the 6% mark.
Even when the local stock market and economy were stuttering, the EPF paid out healthy dividends of more than 6%, to the joy of the many retirees. The retired community is so used to the 6% mark that anything less than 5.5% would be viewed as bad, even though the risk-free fixed deposit rates are only about 3%
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