i-Sinar and i-Citra not heavily impacting EPF investment at the moment

KUALA LUMPUR: The i-Sinar and i-Citra programmes, which aim to provide affected members with supplemental income to cater for their subsistence needs amidst the present crisis, is not heavily impacting the Employees' Provident Fund's (EPF) investment at the moment.

Chief strategy officer Nurhisham Hussein said the fund has a plan in terms of managing the liquidity as well as the cashflow of EPF.

"We are managing the impact on the cashflow and investment. We have sufficient cash for these programmes. It is not heavily impacting investment at the moment.

"So the impact on dividends (from the programmes) is still early to talk -- as dividends would be heavily impact by the market performance. We still have another five months to go. We have to make a commitment on that," he told a virtual media briefing on the i-Citra update today.

To date, for i-Sinar, Nurhisham said a sum of RM56.7 billion has been paid from the total approved amount of RM58.8 billion.

For i-Citra programme, he said, which was estimated at RM30 billion payment, a total of RM2.3 billion has been disbursed out of the RM19 billion approved amount from 4.57 million applications.

Meanwhile, he said EPF's strategic asset allocation (SAA) is taking into account the financial crisis and market downturn, which would be able to withstand future shocks or economic uncertainty.

"We notice the domestic market isn't doing so well but the international markets are doing very well. That will balance out some of the performance issues. In terms of managing asset classes and the entire investment portfolio -- we do have a plan for that. So far, it is working.

"The SAA will be revised every three years. We have some practical allocations, depending on market conditions. But it is intended to be over the portfolio and it is not intended to go up and down in the markets. We have a diversified investment portfolio since mid-2013 and that has helped us a lot," he added.

-- BERNAMA