He said this was driven by higher dividends and distributions from investee companies, fair value gains and capital preservation.

Amirul said the fund remained resilient while investing for the future.

“We delivered a stronger performance in 2023 — more than three-fold in profit compared to 2022.

“Our commitment remains as we continue to leverage our value creation efforts and portfolio rebalancing approach to strengthen our balance sheet and build a resilient financial position,” Amirul said in a statement.

“While 2024 is expected to be yet another challenging year globally, with heightened political uncertainties, advancing Malaysia will remain our overarching theme in steering our strategies.”

He said debt increased marginally to RM50.2 billion from RM49.1 billion previously.

Amirul said Khazanah paid the government a dividend of RM1 billion for 2023. Cumulative dividends paid since 2004 amounted to RM18.1 billion.

He said under its Dana Impak mandate, Khazanah will use its RM6 billion fund over the next five years on digital society and technology, food and energy security, decent work and social mobility, quality health and education for all, building climate resilience, and competing in global markets.

Amirul said the sovereign wealth fund expected the global macroeconomic and market environment to remain challenging with ongoing geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East, continuation of the Russia-Ukraine war, and global competition between China and the US.

Additionally, 76 countries, representing more than 60% of the world’s GDP, will hold general elections and this introduced further volatility to economic conditions.

In this environment, Khazanah intended to remain vigilant in its investment activities to maintain portfolio resilience through strategic diversification.