KUALA LUMPUR, February 23- The Employees Provident Fund (EPF's) dividend announcement is expected to be encouraging.

Finance Minister II, Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan said the projection is based on the EPF's strong performance, which recorded better results compared to the previous year.

"If we look at its performance up to third quarter of last year, the performance is encouraging. By the third quarter, the EPF has already earned RM57.5 billion investment income, which is better than the previous year," he said.

"God willing, this performance will continue into the fourth quarter. The dividend will be encouraging," he said to the media after the Larian ASEAN event at Dataran Wawasan, here, today.

"But I can't comment on the dividend, wait for the announcement from EPF," he added.

He also said the performance of the Malaysian stock exchange and shares also supported the possibility of a positive announcement.

Previously, several economists stated the possibility of last year's dividend exceeding six percent was high, based on the EPF's strong performance in the third quarter of 2024.