PUTRAJAYA: The government has decided to allow Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributors to make a special withdrawal of RM10,000 to ease the burden of Keluarga Malaysia (The Malaysian Family) members who are still impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said although it was a difficult decision to make, the government had to take this middle-of-the-road approach to strike a balance between contributors' current pressing needs and their savings for the future.

"Based on findings of studies and comprehensive observation of the recovery phase of this pandemic, some among the Keluarga Malaysia are still impacted from the economic aspect, have lost their income and are still rebuilding their lives.

"The government listens to and studies requests from all quarters to withdraw their EPF contributions," he said in a special announcement over national television today.

However, Ismail Sabri urged contributors to consider the matter carefully as the savings are meant for their retirement and that they should only make the withdrawal if they are hard-pressed.


The prime minister said details on the special withdrawal would be announced by the Finance Ministry and EPF.

The government had earlier allowed special EPF withdrawals under three schemes, namely i-Lestari, i-Sinar and i-Citra totalling RM101 billion for the benefit of 7.34 million contributors after the COVID-19 outbreak two years ago.

These three schemes are pre-retirement withdrawals introduced to help contributors cope with the impact of the pandemic during the Movement Control Order period.

-- BERNAMA