EPF portfolio Rs 924 b by May 2011

Investments in corporate debt securities soon :

Ravi Ladduwahetty

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has an astronomical Rs 924 billion in its investment portfolio by end May 2011. Of the total investment portfolio of Rs 924 billion as at May 31, 2011, the Fund has invested Rs 856 billion in Treasury Bills and other government securities, accounting for 92.7% of the total portfolio, Central Bank’s EPF Superintendent Rupa Dheerasinghe told Daily News Business yesterday.
 
Of the remaining investments, there is Rs 57.28 billion or 6.2% of the total portfolio which is invested in listed and unlisted equities of which there is Rs 53 billion which accounts for 5.5% of the total portfolio in listed equities while the investment portfolio in unlisted equities is Rs 7.1 billion or 0.7% There is also 0.5% or Rs 4.62 billion invested in Reverse Repo.

“Our investments in unlisted equities and Reverse Repo is very small, she said.

Of the Rs 53 billion in listed and unlisted equities, banks, finance and insurance companies account for Rs 18.55 billion or 35%, while diversified holdings have Rs 15.9 billion or 30%. The hotel and travel company equities have Rs 4.77 billion or 9% of the EPF funds while the portfolio in manufacturing companies account for Rs 3.18 billion or 6%. The investments in the construction and engineering sector are Rs 2.65 billion or 5% while the telecommunication sector accounts for Rs 1.59 billion or 3% and all other equities Rs 6.36 billion or 12%, Dheerasinghe said. However, she conceded that the investments in the unlisted equities were relatively small.

She said that the Fund was managing the monies of the people and was extremely vigilant in the manner of making the investments being acutely conscious of the security of the people some of whom have their lifetime’s savings in the EPF. “We are safeguarding the interests of the EPF members while giving them the best possible returns. We made an overall return of 15% for all our investments, she said.

“We are extremely careful when making the investments and our decisions are made by a fully-fledged team of Fund Managers who are acutely conscious of the market developments and fluctuations and their decisions are backed scientifically,” she said.

The number of member accounts by end May has been 13.3 million and the contributing employees has been 62,000 as at December 31, 2010.

The EPF will also shortly go in for investments in corporate debt securities, which will yield very positive returns as well, she said.

source - www.dailynews.lk