Malaysia’s national trust fund Kumpulan Wang Amanah Negara (KWAN) is expected to get a significant boost in contributions along with tighter withdrawal conditions under new legislation that cleared the lower house of parliament last week.
KWAN was established nearly four decades ago to preserve national wealth generated from depleting natural resources such as oil for future generations. National oil company Petroliam Nasional (Petronas) is currently the sole contributor to the fund but it contributes at the discretion of its board. There is no statutory formula for contributions.
That will change under the provisions of the National Trust Fund Bill 2026 which calls for the government to contribute at least 0.1% of its projected revenue to the fund, at least 2% of dividends received from Petronas, and at least 2% of export duties collected on depleting natural resources such as crude oil, and mineral and iron ores.
Liew Chin Tong, the Malaysian deputy finance minister, introduced the bill in the House of Representatives on July 14 and it was passed two days later. The legislation will now go to the Senate.
“This new bill intends to tighten the rules so that only half of the proceeds from a particular year could be withdrawn, and if above the threshold, parliament’s approval has to be obtained. And, even in emergency withdrawals, the usage is restricted to education, health and climate mitigation,” Liew wrote on his Facebook account on July 16.
The government has made two withdrawals from the fund since it was established in 1988. The first was in 2001, when it withdrew 42 million ringgit (US$10.26 million) to finance a wetland sanctuary project. The second was in 2021 when it withdrew 5 billion ringgit to procure coronavirus vaccines.
KWAN had 22.43 billion ringgit of assets under management as of end-2024, the latest publicly available figure.
