EPF CEO hopes for no more one-off withdrawal schemes

 

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is resisting pressure to continuously allow contributors to withdraw money from their retirement savings accounts.

This comes after BN Jempol MP Mohd Salim Sharif proposed a fourth round of one-off withdrawals to help those affected by the recent floods and the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a Harian Metro article yesterday, EPF chief executive officer Amir Hamzah Azizan stressed that the fund's mandate was to help the working public save money for their old age.

Furthermore, the government had already allowed three rounds of one-off early withdrawals namely i-Lestari, i-Sinar and i-Citra.

“Three (withdrawal) schemes have ended.

“What is important now is not just to consider these requests, but also the main context of the EPF. As I have presented, we are here to prioritise the amount of savings of retired workers.

“I understand when we receive pressure like this. But we need to remember that the mandate given to EPF under our act (EPF Act 1991) is to help members save for their old age,” he said after announcing EPF’s 6.1 percent dividend for conventional savings.

Elaborating, Amir Hamzah believed there was no need for a fourth round of withdrawals.

“I hope we don’t need to withdraw again.

“EPF will continue to focus on our mandate, which is to help members build their retirement savings. Our role is to make life easier for our members when they retire,” he reiterated.

RM110 billion withdrawn

Amir Hamzah also shared that Malaysians had withdrawn a total of RM110 billion following three one-off early withdrawal schemes over the past two years.

For i-Lestari, which ran from April 2020 to March 2021, he said members withdrew RM20.8 billion.

This was followed by i-Sinar, which ran from January to December 2021, where members withdrew RM58.7 billion.

For i-Citra, which ran from July 2021 to February 2022, members withdrew RM21.4 billion.

He added that 7.3 million people - almost half of all EPF members - had applied for at least one withdrawal scheme.

Amir Hamzah said he was concerned that members may not be able to afford retirement.

“We at EPF are concerned that the elderly may not have enough savings for their daily living expenses. Malaysia is an ageing society and we will have a large number of elderly people.

“It is important for every one of us to have the security of savings to be used after we retire or when we are no longer working to generate an income,” he said. - Mkini