KUALA LUMPUR: The government will consider public requests to expand the eligibility of contributors for withdrawals from Account 1 of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the government has requested that the EPF look into allowing more contributors to make such withdrawals, instead of just the estimated 600,000 announced during Budget 2021's tabling.
However, Zafrul said the matter was still in the discussion stage with all parties involved.
"The government will consider public requests on the withdrawal from Account 1. 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. We will also explain why we do that," he said in a press conference here today.
Under Budget 2021, the government allows those who lost their jobs or had their incomes reduced as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic to withdraw up to RM12,000 from Account 1 and 2.
Zafrul said the reduction in EPF contribution from 11 per cent to 9.0 per cent would channel about RM9.3 billion into the economy.
According to the EPF, the details of access to the Account 1 facility, to be called i-Sinar, will be announced on Wednesday.
The EPF said the total amount available under i-Sinar, together with the maximum withdrawal of RM500 a month from Account 2 under the i-Lestari facility, will allow affected members to sustain themselves in the short term.
"Applications for i-Sinar will begin from Dec 2020, and amounts will be credited into members' bank accounts starting from Jan 2021," it said.