MORE Employees Provident Fund (EPF) members will retire below the income poverty line if the government allows additional withdrawals of their savings, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Aziz said.

He said this is due to the continuous decline in EPF members’ retirement savings and currently almost half of the members have less than RM10,000 in their accounts.

“Of this total, 55% are bumiputera. More worryingly, over 79% of the members (who have savings) of less than RM1,000 are also bumiputera,” he told reporters after visiting the Kelantan Urban Transformation Centre in Kota Baru today.

“So if additional withdrawals are allowed, this will result in more members retiring below the poverty line, causing the Malaysian family to bear a huge burden in the future, especially if a recession occurs.” 

Tengku Zafrul said this when asked to comment on a study by Umno Youth, which found that more than 97% of members want the government to approve the one-off i-Citra withdrawal of RM10,000 from EPF.

He said every decision made by the government must take into account the interests of the people in the short and long term.

He also assured that the government will continue to take care of the welfare of the people, including that of the B40 and M40 groups.

“Under Budget 2022, more than RM31 billion is earmarked for subsidies, assistance and incentives to reduce the impact of the rising cost of living,” he said.

“To ensure the welfare of the people is taken care of, (under) Bantuan Keluarga Malaysia, the government has allocated RM8.2 billion to be distributed to 9.6 million recipients. This is among the various assistance provided to the people.” – Bernama, January 15, 2022.