PUTRAJAYA has agreed to a special withdrawal of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) funds, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri said.
He also said that the Government has decided on this as it was aware that many people were still struggling from the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Government has agreed to allow a special withdrawal of EPF funds of up to RM10,000,” he announced during a televised address today (March 16).
According to the Prime Minister, this was a difficult decision to make because it involved the people’s retirement money, and added that this withdrawal was a middle ground in balancing between the urgent need of today and future savings.
“Although we have allowed another withdrawal, I appeal to the contributors to maintain their savings unless the situation is really urgent,” he remarked.
“I hope that they will give it due consideration before making any withdrawal for the sake of their future.”
Ismail Sabri said Putrajaya decided to conduct the withdrawal scheme based on research and observation on the ongoing recovery phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There are those among ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ who are still affected financially and are trying to rebuild their lives.
“The government hears. We have studied appeals from all for this withdrawal programme,” he added.
Ismail Sabri went on to note that further clarification on this withdrawal will be made by the Finance Ministry and EPF.
Another withdrawal will deplete retirement savings
There had been increasing calls for the Government to consider allowing EPF contributors affected by the aftermath of the pandemic as well as the recent floods to withdraw RM10,000 on on-off basis from their retirement funds.
This is despite concerns raised by several quarters including economists and the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) that such a move will deplete retirement savings among contributors, subsequently affecting their lives during retirement.
Similarly, Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz had warned that EPF would have to sell more of its overseas assets should the Government allow another one-off withdrawal of RM10,000.
In the past two years, Malaysians have been allowed to make several rounds of withdrawals from their EPF savings through the i-Lestari, i-Sinar and i-Citra schemes which resulted in a total withdrawal of RM101 bil by 7.4 million members.
According to the EPF, this has resulted in 6.1 million members having less than RM 10,000 currently in their savings and a staggering 79% of them having less than RM1,000 left consequently. – March 16, 2022
