KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): Lembaga Tabung Haji has postponed its hibah (dividend) announcement scheduled for today, pending a greenlight from the new prime minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Under the Tabung Haji Act 1995, the pilgrims’ fund is required to get the approval from the designated minister in the Prime Minister’s Department before declaring a hibah.

“No date has been fixed for the announcement yet, but if the prime minister gives the approval, we plan to announce it sometime next week,” said a source at the pilgrim fund who declined to be named.

According to the latest Federal Government gazette — Ministers of the Federal Government (No.2) Order 2020 — Muhyiddin will be in charge of all ministries and government departments until the appointment of Cabinet ministers.

It is unclear when the new Cabinet line-up will be formed, but Parliament speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof confirmed on Wednesday that the next Dewan Rakyat sitting had been moved from March 9 to May 18.

Meanwhile, Tabung Haji in December last year said it was anticipating a higher dividend for its financial year 2019 (FY19). At the time, group managing director and chief executive officer Nik Mohd Hasyudeen Yusoff said the fund’s financial performance had been “very positive” in the third quarter of 2019.

“As of September [2019], Tabung Haji has stayed on the right track. God willing, this year’s [2019] dividend will be better than 2018,” he was quoted as saying.

For FY18, Tabung Haji declared a record low hibah of 1.25%, which amounted to RM913 million for its depositors. The then minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mujahid Yusof Rawa had said the lower dividend was due to mismanagement under the previous Barisan Nasional administration.

Comparatively, the pilgrim fund paid 6.25% as hibah in FY17 to depositors who had not performed their pilgrimage, and 4.50% to those who had.

Last month, The Edge Financial Daily reported that Tabung Haji is planning to remove its subsidy for first-time pilgrims, except those in the bottom 40% income group (B40), from next year onwards.

Tabung Haji has been subsidising first-time pilgrims, including those accompanying them, for years. It has spent over RM1 billion on this in the past decade.

In 2019, the cost of the haj pilgrimage subsidy borne by the fund amounted to RM400 million, according to reports.