Rs 856 billion in govt securities:
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.
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Rupa
Dheerasinghe |
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.
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