EPF withdrawal: Members have less than RM10,000 in accounts - MP

KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund's (EPF) withdrawal facilities which saw a total of RM101 billion being disbursed to over 7.4 million members so far was among the issues raised in Dewan Rakyat today.

Datuk Dr Xavier Jayakumar (Independent-Kuala Langat) said the withdrawal had caused members to have less than RM10,000 in their EPF accounts.

"...and if they resign or retire, they will not have any savings. These people will then fall below the poverty line and we will have a much bigger issue as far as socioeconomic problems are concerned in urban and rural areas," he said when debating the 2022 Supply Bill.

EPF's special withdrawal facilities were made available to help members deal with the COVID-19 health and economic crises.

Xavier also said that for any form of facilities to be implemented in the future, the government needed to pay attention to their impact on the country's financial situation.

In addition, he said the budget should take into account the aspiration of 'Keluarga Malaysia' (Malaysian Family) as a whole and not based on race alone.

A total of 11 MPs participated in today's debate session.

The Dewan Rakyat sitting continues on Monday.

-- BERNAMA