73% Members At Risk Of Having Insufficient Funds To Retire Above Poverty Line
According to the message issued by the Minister of Finance Tengku Zafrul, after the government implemented the i-Lestari, i-Sinar, and i-Citra withdrawal plans, 73% or three-quarters of the members at risk of having insufficient funds to retire above poverty line.
There are currently as many as 6.1 million EPF members with deposits less than RM10,000, and 3.6 million members with deposits less than RM1,000. The situation for Bumiputera members is the most serious, that is, 54% or 4.4 million Bumiputera members have deposits less than RM10,000, and 25% or 2 million Bumiputera members have deposits less than RM1,000.
Under the i-Lestari, i-Sinar, and i-Citra withdrawal plans, the KWSP has approved a total of RM101 billion of EPF withdrawals. The median deposit of the B40 group is only RM1,005, the median deposit of the M40 group is RM24,995, and the median deposit of the T20 group is RM152,043.
Some members of the EPF believe that their deposits should be kept by themselves, and therefore require the KWSP to allow them to withdraw funds. Some members think that their investment in other projects can get a higher rate of return than the EPF, so they also hope that they can withdraw funds from the EPF.
However, some members want to keep their money in the provident fund, because the EPF distributes about 5.5% of bonuses to members every year.
