Government willing to expand EPF Account 1 withdrawal eligibility - Finance Minister

KUALA LUMPUR: The government is willing to expand the eligibility of contributors for withdrawals from Account 1 of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).

Finance Minister, Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said, however, the matter was still in the discussion stage with all parties involved.

"We are still negotiating and the discussion process with the EPF is still ongoing for us to expand this by taking into account the people's concerns.

"So, after the negotiations are over, we have to wait a few more days for me and the EPF to announce the effort to expand it to more than 600,000 people to receive this benefit.

"We will also explain why we do that," he said in a press conference at Wisma Bernama here on Saturday.

In the presentation of the 2021 Budget, Tengku Zafrul announced the EPF savings withdrawal facility from Account 1 with a target of RM500 per month with a total of up to RM6,000 for a period of 12 months to ease the financial burden of the affected members.

Previously, the EPF had introduced the i-Lestari withdrawal facility in April which allowed members to make withdrawals of RM500 per month for a period of 12 months with a total of up to RM6,000.

The scheme has benefited about 4.7 million members with a value of RM11.6 billion.