TH announces annual bonus of 4.25pc, extra bonus 1.5pc
Published on: Saturday, February 04, 2017
Putra Jaya: Lembaga Tabung Haji (Tabung Haji) has announced depositor bonuses for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2016 (FY16), comprising an annual bonus of 4.25 per cent and an additional haj bonus of 1.5 per cent to depositors who have not performed the haj.Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom, said the bonuses involved a total payment of RM2.88 billion. The Pilgrims Fund Board declared an annual bonus of 5.0 per cent and an additional haj bonus of 3.0 per cent in FY15 totalling RM3.24 billion.Last year, Tabung Haji announced a five per cent yearly hibah, as well as an additional three per cent hibah for depositors who had not performed their haj in 2015 financial year, to the tune of RM3.22 billion.
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Jamil Khir said the hibah would be distributed to 9.1 million depositors and the additional haj hibah would be distibuted to 8.5 million depositors who have not performed their haj. "In calculating the hibah, we had taken into account the 2.5 per cent business zakat contribution for 2016 for Tabung Haji, which amounted to RM60.3 million. "The Tabung Haji's collective depositors savings fund for 2016, prior to the distribution of hibah, had amounted to RM64.8 billion, an increase of four per cent compared to RM62.5 billion in 2015," he said. He said Tabung Haji had recorded a decrease in earnings in 2016 because it had received a one-off dividend from the sales of a plantation in Indonesia worth RM874 million and a building in London for RM290 million in 2015.
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"The depreciation of the ringgit against the US dollar, the falling palm oil and crude oil prices as well as the slow global economic growth also had an adverse effect on the earnings for other fund managers," he said. On another note, Jamil Khir said, this year, the subsidy for haj was expected to increase by 25 per cent to the tune of RM200 million compared to RM160 million last year.
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"This is due to the Saudi Arabia government's decision to reinstate the original quota of 27,900 haj pilgrims, compared to 22,320 previously. He said the government's overall subsidy for the haj since 2007 to 2017 was expected to be over RM1.1 billion. Meanwhile, Tabung Haji will allocate RM2 billion for real estate investments in UK and Australia for the next three years.Its Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Seri Johan Abdullah, said this investment strategy would ensure Tabung Haji of recurring income in the future. "We haven't made any final decisions yet. We have identified a building which would be able to provide eight per cent returns yearly," he said. Tabung Haji would also be focussing on concessional projects for 2017, especially those which involved the government in relation to infrastructure, in order to strengthen the fund's acquisitions in the future. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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