Malaysia Plans $4.8 Billion Rescue of Islamic Pilgrim Fund
- Tabung Haji to move assets to SPV under the finance ministry
- Recovery plan to let fund resume financing Hajj pilgrimages
Muslim worshippers pray around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
Photographer: Bandar Aldandani/AFP via Getty Images
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Malaysia’s finance ministry has approved a plan to revive the balance sheet of Lembaga Tabung Haji, a state fund tasked with helping Muslims save for a pilgrimage to Mecca.
The government will form a special purpose vehicle that will take over as much as 19.9 billion ringgit ($4.8 billion) of the fund’s underperforming assets, Managing Director Zukri Samat said in Kuala Lumpur Tuesday. The move would allow the fund to balance its books by year-end and enable it to keep paying out dividends to finance Hajj journeys, he said.