The 5.70 percent dividend rate announced by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) for 2016 is good enough given the challenging conditions in the global economy last year, which has caused many countries to record slow economic growth.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said the economic uncertainty and changes of policies and leadership in Europe, United States and other countries had also affected global investments.

"Alhamdulillah, EPF has announced a dividend rate of 5.70 percent with total payout amounting to RM37.08 billion for its contributors for 2016.

"Congratulations to all EPF staff for ensuring good returns from its investments for better retirement benefits of the contributors," he said in his latest blog posting today.

Yesterday, the EPF declared a divided rate of 5.70 percent for 2016 with the total payout amounting to RM37.08 billion.

The dividend payout for 2016 is higher than the payout amount in 2014 even though the dividend rate declared then was higher at 6.75 percent.

- Bernama