CPF INTEREST RATE AND HDB MORTGAGE RATE FROM 1 JANUARY 2005 TO 31 MARCH 2005
	News Release by: Central Provident Fund Board Housing & Development Board 16 November 2004 --
	The CPF Board will continue to pay interest to its 3.0 million CPF members at the rate of 2.50% per annum for CPF savings in their Ordinary Account from 1 January 2005 to 31 March 2005. The CPF interest rate is reviewed quarterly.
	The computed CPF interest rate, derived from the interest rates for the three-month period, 1 August 2004 to 31 October 2004, works out to be 0.59% per annum. However, the Board will be paying the higher rate of 2.50% per annum as the CPF Act provides for a minimum CPF interest rate of 2.50% per annum. This minimum rate is higher than the 12-month fixed deposit and savings rates of the major local banks for the August 2004 to October 2004 period.
	Savings in the Medisave Account, Special Account and Retirement Account will earn interest at 4.00% per annum. This is 1.5 percentage points higher than that for the Ordinary Account. The concessionary interest rate for HDB mortgage loan, which is pegged at 0.1 percentage point above the CPF interest rate for the Ordinary Account, will remain unchanged at 2.60% per annum from 1 January 2005 to 31 March 2005. The next revision of the CPF interest rate will be made on 1 April 2005. The detailed computations of the CPF interest rate and the HDB mortgage loan interest rate are given in the Annex.
	PUBLIC ENQUIRIES
	Members with enquiries may call the CPF Call Centre on 1800-227 1188 (Code 1)
	ANNEX :
	COMPUTATION OF CPF INTEREST RATE AND HDB MORTGAGE RATE FOR JANUARY 2005 TO MARCH 2005 12-MONTH DEPOSIT RATE (% PA)       SAVINGS RATE (% PA) AVERAGE MONTH/YEAR DBS   (1) OCBC   (2) UOB   (3) DBS   (4) OCBC   (5) UOB   (6) 80FD:20SD (% PA) 31 Aug 04 0.6250 0.7000 0.7000 0.2000 0.2500 0.2500 0.5867 30 Sep 04 0.6250 0.7000 0.7000 0.2000 0.2500 0.2500 0.5867 31 Oct 04 0.6250 0.7000 0.7000 0.2000 0.2500 0.2500 0.5867 (A) NORMAL CPF INTEREST RATE               Average for 3 months (AUG 2004 TO OCT 2004) (Using the 80 FD : 20 SD formula) 0.59% (computed interest rate)           CPF Interest Rate for JAN 2005 TO MAR 2005 2.50% (legislated minimum rate)         (B) HDB MORTGAGE RATE               CPF Interest Rate for JAN 2005 TO MAR 2005 2.50%     Plus: Fee to cover Cost of Loan Administration 0.10%               --------     HDB Mortgage Rate for JAN 2005 TO MAR 2005 2.60%       --------           NOTES: (1) Balances between $20,000 to < $50,000 (2) Balances less than $50,000 (3) Balances < $50,000 (4) Balances > $3,000 to $50,000 (AUTO-SAVE Account) (5) Balances > $5,000 to $50,000 (EASI-SAVE Account) (6) Balances > $3,000 to $50,000 (UNIPLUS Account)