KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has called on the government to reconsider another Employees Provident Fund (EPF) withdrawal for Malaysians due to inflation and the projected global economic slowdown this year.
Ismail, who is also the Bera member of parliament, said the withdrawal would only hugely impact the EPF as it used contributors' investments and savings to run the business.
"Previously, we have allowed four EPF withdrawals, involving RM145 billion and 1.8 million contributors during the Covid-19 pandemic to assist them.
"It might affect EPF as the investments and savings are one way for them to run the business.
"However, I believe that the withdrawal will only involve a small portion of the whole asset under EPF," he said during the Royal Address debate in Dewan Rakyat, today.
Ismail added that EPF's assets, which has almost reached RM1 trillion, would not be affected should there be another withdrawal as the conditions for withdrawal would be set by the government.
"We are not forcing, however, we ask the government to consider the request of the people who need the withdrawal.
"Hence, allow another targeted withdrawal with conditions set by the government.
"What is the use of the fund if we are declared bankrupt by the time we want to withdraw the money later on? The urgency is now, not later."
Previously, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that the government was finding ways to reduce people's financial burden without them having to withdraw their EPF savings.
Anwar said this was because the people had already been allowed to make several EPF withdrawals before, which had certainly caused the amount of their retirement savings to decline.
Meanwhile, Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said the median savings in the EPF accounts of all Malaysians declined 50 per cent to RM8,100 last year from RM16,600 the year before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
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