Finance Ministry secretary-general of Treasury Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah. IZZRAFIQ ALIAS / The Star. April 12, 2017.
PUTRAJAYA: There is nothing extraordinary about the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Khazanah Nasional Bhd investing in the US, said Treasury Secretary-General Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah.
He said EPF had invested in countries such as the United Kingdom and the US, among others, to ensure maximum returns to contributors.
“The EPF’s investments abroad already existed even before Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s visit to the US,” he said.
Mohd Irwan said this to reporters after officiating the closing ceremony for the Hackathon event and the launch of the Coding@Schools portal at the Finance Ministry in Putrajaya on Friday.
He was asked to comment on plans by EPF and Khazanah to increase their investments in the US in conjunction with Najib’s recent visit to the country.
In his three-day visit to the US from Sept 11-13, 2017, Najib had announced that the EPF was expected to invest between US$3bil and US$4bil (RM12.6bil and RM16.8bil) in the US while Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) had intended to acquire several Boeing aircraft.
At the same time, he said, the EPF had an investment panel to assess the investment risk and also evaluate the best returns.
“I think this is a normal matter. EPF’s investment panel has already made an assessment. This is a normal investment to bring in the best returns to the contributors. The impression and views that we are trying to help the US economy are baseless,” he said.
Mohd Irwan said MAB had its own board of directors, technical and commercial teams to ensure that the airline would provide modern and efficient services.
“Therefore, MAB needs new aircraft, whether they are Airbus or Boeing, MAB’s investment panel and the board had evaluated the plan. The airline purchase is MAB’s plan for the long term,” he said. - Bernama
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