KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 16): The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) in a statement on Monday expressed its support and confidence in Budget 2024, and reiterated its commitment to help members safeguard their savings. 

Its chief executive officer Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan emphasised a need to address the low level of savings among EPF members while stressing the importance of bridging the savings and coverage gap in Malaysia’s pension and retirement system. 

The EPF expects the matching incentive for the i-Saraan programme, specifically designed to encourage additional voluntary contributions from employees, to benefit more than 350,000 current and new participants, with the government deciding to extend the programme beyond 2023 and increase the annual maximum incentive limit from RM300 to RM500 per year. 

“The i-Saraan programme has been enhanced to allow eligible Malaysians in the informal sector, including housewives and those with no fixed income under the age of 60 to receive a lifetime incentive of RM5,000 per individual, with a capping of RM500 per year,” EPF's statement said.  

Besides this, the i-Sayang programme that was designed to encourage voluntary contributions by husbands to their spouses' EPF accounts will also be expanded to include husbands starting from 2024. This means that working wives will have the option to allocate 2% of their monthly EPF contributions to their husbands’ EPF accounts.  

“Since its launch, about 34,000 husbands have registered and participated in i-Sayang, equivalent to a cumulative savings of RM14.7 million,” it said.  

In addition, the i-Suri programme, which acknowledges the role of housewives in family and national development, will be extended with matching contributions and a maximum incentive amount. For every ringgit contributed to the EPF scheme by housewives under the age of 60 and registered in the e-Kasih database, a matching incentive will be provided.

“Participants of the i-Suri programme will have the opportunity to receive a lifetime incentive of up to RM3,000 per individual, subject to a capping of RM300 matching incentive per year,” the EPF said in its statement.  

In response to Malaysia's rapidly ageing society and the growing gig economy landscape, the social security organisation said that it will continuously review its schemes to ensure that members can meet their lifecycle needs without compromising their retirement savings.  

“To help members balance short, medium, and long-term needs, EPF members’ accounts will be restructured to further strengthen their retirement savings for their wellbeing in their old age,” the EPF said.  

Simultaneously, the EPF will introduce a Flexible Account, a new account that members can access at any time, especially in times of emergency. 

“Budget 2024 represents an important step forward in prioritising the financial security and prosperity of Malaysia’s ageing population. With a concerted effort to strengthen our resources and retirement allocations, this budget highlights the unity fovernment’s commitment to ensuring the dignity and comfort of its citizens," Amir Hamzah said. 

“The old-age wellbeing of the rakyat remains one of the government’s priorities, due to the low level of protection under the formal pension and retirement schemes among Malaysians. Currently, only 60% of the labour force is covered under formal retirement schemes, namely the EPF scheme for private workers and the pension scheme for civil servants,” he added.  

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