The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) has called on the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to declare a higher dividend this year because of its increased investment income.

The EPF recently announced that its investment income soared to RM7.02 billion in the third quarter of this year ending Sept 30.

MTUC vice-president A.Balasubramaniam told today that in view of this, it was only appropriate for the fund to declare a higher dividend.

EPF declared a six per cent dividend for 2011.

Balasubramaniam said the majority of the 10 milllion private sector workers were looking forward to a better dividend from the fund as it was the only source of savings for them