Ahmad Maslan said that the fund’s investments are 80% local, while the remaining 20% is abroad.
PETALING JAYA: The Retirement Fund (Inc) (KWAP) has achieved a total gross fund size of RM185.4bil from the RM200bil target to be achieved in 2025.
Deputy Finance Minister 1 Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said of the RM185.4bil collected as of July 2023, 40% was invested in fixed income instruments, 40% in public equity, 10% in private equity as well as another 10% in real estate.
Ahmad told the media at KWAP’s Contributors Forum 2023 yesterday that so far, the fund’s investments are 80% local, while the remaining 20% is abroad.
He said an estimated 32,000 new retirees are recorded every year, for which the government then has to spend RM31bil to pay the pensions of some 900,000 retirees.
He said the government is committed to maintaining the pensions of retirees, despite the rising burden of operating expenses, adding that the government is currently looking into ways to improve the salaries and pension schemes of civil servants and highlighted that pension bills will never go down as the government constantly studies ways to support the amount.
He said that government-linked investment companies (GLICs) and government-linked companies (GLCs) play a critical role in ensuring the positive performance of the Malaysian economy.
“GLICs and GLCs have succeeded in creating job opportunities and stimulating the local economy while attracting international investors,” Ahmad said.
“The government hopes that KWAP as a GLIC can implement improvements to increase the size of funds and investments, thereby contributing to a better dividend payment,” he added.
The country’s third largest retirement fund after the Employees Provident Fund and Permodalan Nasional Bhd, KWAP generated dividends of RM3bil last year.
As of today, there are 482 contributing agencies in Malaysia, with 192 employers from statutory bodies, 151 from local authorities and 139 from secondment agencies, contributing for approximately 177,000 employees nationwide who are under the public-sector pension scheme.
