KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 — The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is awaiting the outcome from the newly-established Economic Action Council (EAC) for a clearer future direction, chief executive officer Tunku Alizakri Alias said.

Tunku Alizakri said the fund was excited to see the directions and plans from the new economic council.

“We are really excited to see the great plans coming out from these very fertile minds (of the EAC),” he told reporters after the fund’s 2018 performance briefing here today.

Tunku Alizakri said the council should provide very clear policy directions, including on the country’s dependency on commodities and economic diversification plans.

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“We also want to see a response from the government on Industry Revolution 4.0,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said EPF would partner an external fund manager to penetrate the Latin American market as part of its efforts to diversify its overseas portfolio.

“We are not just going blindly into Latin America. There are big economies like Brazil and Colombia.

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“At this time, we are going to be very selective. We are going in with a small amount of money,” he said.

Tunku Alizakri said although EPF was well-established in ASEAN, the market still has a lot of potential.

“We know this market very well as this is our own backyard. We are still very excited and interested in the ASEAN market, but again it all depends on the investment value coming into play.

“Currently, 4.8 per cent of the fund’s total assets are invested in ASEAN, with substantial investment exposure in Singapore,” he said.

Touching on EPF’s investments in the UK, Tunku Alizakri said the fund was optimistic on the UK as an investment destination despite any lingering Brexit uncertainties.

“When we first went in, the prices were very good and now, we are reaping the rewards.

“Brexit uncertainties might actually present a lot of opportunities for us to go back in,” he said.

Currently, Tunku Alizakri said investments in the UK amounted to approximately RM24 billion or about three per cent of EPF’s total assets.

Overall, EPF has invested RM222.61 billion or 26.7 per cent of its total assets in about 40 countries to diversify its portfolio.

In 2018, the provident fund registered gross investment income of RM50.88 billion with total investment assets of RM833.76 billion.

Contributions rose 9.08 per cent to RM71.47 billion last year while withdrawals fell to RM48.10 billion from RM49.40 billion in 2017. — Bernama