CPF INTEREST RATE AND HDB MORTGAGE RATE FROM 1 APRIL 2003 TO 30 JUNE 2003

News Release by: Central Provident Fund Board Housing & Development Board 25 February 2003 --

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 April 2003 to 30 June 2003. The CPF interest rate is reviewed quarterly.

The computed CPF interest rate, derived from the interest rates for the three-month period, 30 November 2002 to 31 January 2003, works out to be 1.18% 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 November 2002 to January 2003 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 April 2003 to 30 June 2003.

The next revision of the CPF interest rate will be made on 1 July 2003. 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 APRIL 2003 TO JUNE 2003

Month / Year 12-Month Deposit Rate (% pa)   Savings Rate (% pa) AVERAGE 80 FD : 20 SD (%PA) (1) DBS (2) OCBC (4) UOB   (5) DBS (6) OCBC (8) UOB 30 Nov 02 1.2500 1.3750 1.3750 0.4250 0.6250 0.6250 1.1783 31 Dec 02 1.2500 1.3750 1.3750 0.4250 0.6250 0.6250 1.1783 31 Jan 03 1.2500 1.3750 1.3750 0.4250 0.6250 0.5000 1.1700

(A) NORMAL CPF INTEREST RATE   Average for 3 months (NOV 2002 TO JAN 2003) (Using the 80 FD : 20 SD formula) 1.18% (computed interest rate)         CPF Interest Rate for APR TO JUN 2003 2.50% (legislated minimum rate)

(B) HDB MORTGAGE RATE CPF Interest Rate for APR TO JUN 2003 Plus: Fee to cover Cost of Loan Administration 2.50% 0.10% HDB Mortgage Rate for APR TO JUN 2003 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 > $3,000 to $50,000 (EASI-SAVE Account) (6) Balances > $3,000 to $50,000 (UNIPLUS Account)