COVID-19: PKPB supports proposal for EPF Account 1 withdrawal

KUALA LUMPUR: The proposal for Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributors to withdraw money from Account 1 should be seen as a way to support the fixed income of skilled workers in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

National Association of Skilled Workers (PKPB) secretary-general Mohammad Rizan Hassan said the move could help these groups, especially those in the manufacturing sector with limited overtime.

"Even worse, many of the semi-skilled employees have been laid off due to the closure and downsizing of factory operations in the country.

"In fact, there are also factories recovering from the effects of the Movement Control Order (MCO) that have started using full industrial automation and this could result in the existing workforce losing their jobs in the near future," he said in a statement today.

As such, Mohammad Rizan urged the government to relax the EPF withdrawal rules to ease the financial burden as well as give a little motivation to contributors to plan something for their survival.

Earlier this week, several parties proposed that the EPF should allow contributors to make a one-off withdrawal of up to RM10,000 from their Account 1 to help ease their financial burden due to the pandemic.

On Friday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said that accessing EPF members' Account 1 savings to address the daily challenges caused by COVID-19 could cause larger problems in the future.

-- BERNAMA