KUALA LUMPUR (May 24): Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said loans under the Account 2 Support Facility (FSA2) programme from Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) and Bank Simpanan Nasional Bhd (BSN) amounted to RM726.32 million.
In Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday (May 24), Ahmad Maslan said 150,154 EPF contributors applied for Phase 1 of FSA2, which began on April 7, but noted that only half were of the eligible age of between 40 and 50 years old.
He was responding to a question raised by Pasir Gudang Member of Parliament Hassan Abdul Karim. The Dewan Rakyat is currently sitting until June 15, and will subsequently resume on Oct 9 to Nov 30.
The unity government greenlit FSA2 in March to enable EPF contributors to utilise savings in their Account 2 as support for personal loans from banks to wade through difficult times.
This came after calls for another round of EPF withdrawals, which Putrajaya dismissed.
In the past two years, four tranches of EPF withdrawals were allowed — the special withdrawal facility (Pengeluaran Khas) of up to RM10,000 last year, i-Citra in 2021, as well as i-Lestari and i-Sinar schemes in 2020 — which resulted in a hefty RM145 billion withdrawn in total.
Previously, Ahmad Maslan said the median EPF savings across all races fell to RM8,100 in 2022, versus RM16,600 prior to the pandemic in 2019.
The pension fund also saw its assets under management drop for the first time in history in 2022, down 0.7% to RM1 trillion from RM1.01 trillion in 2021.
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