The Funds investment policy continued to be focused on long-term positive rate of real return to the members while ensuring the safety of the Fund. Accordingly, more than 94 per cent of the funds have been invested in Government securities as a result of which, interest income and amortization gains were the main sources of income to the Fund. During 2010, EPF earned Rs. 118 billion from its investments in Government securities.
During 2010, EPF also invested Rs. 32 billion in the equity market which recorded substantial gains under the sustainable peaceful conditions, better corporate earnings, and more favourable economic prospects in the country. Hence, equity investments which represented 1.3 per cent of the total EPF portfolio at end 2009 increased to 5 per cent by end 2010. EPF’s key focus was on fundamentally sound stocks in the banking, finance and insurance, hotel, travel and diversified sectors. With the revival of the Sri Lankan economy, these sectors are expected to flourish in the medium to long term. Consequently, EPF was able to generate just over Rs. 1.5 billion in realized gains, and further Rs. 16.2 billion in unrealized gains from its equity portfolio. Since major portion of the EPF’s equity investments are held in the long term portfolio, further substantial gains are also expected to be realized in the future.
By end 2010, the total value of the Fund reached Rs. 900 billion registering a growth of 16.9 per cent over that of 2009. At the same time, the EPF has been able to appropriate an interest rate of 12.5 per cent on the year-end member balances, which is a very attractive rate under the current low interest rate environment. During 2011, the total value of the Fund is expected to surpass Rs. 1,000 billion (Rs. 1 trillion) mark through its income from investments and member contributions.