KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — The fovernment is proposing to increase its contribution to the 1Malaysia Pension Scheme (SP1M) from five per cent to 10 per cent or from a maximum of RM60 to RM120 a year, effective January 2014 to end-2017.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the increment is to encourage more people to participate in the scheme and expected to attract 30,000 new contributors.

“To further increase savings, the government is encouraging youths to undertake long-term investments through the Private Retirement Scheme (PRS).

“Towards this, the Government proposes a one-off incentive of RM500 to contributors who participate in the PRS scheme, with a minimum cumulative investment of RM1,000 within a year,” said Najib, who is also the finance minister, when tabling Budget 2014 in Parliament today.

The prime minister said the incentive available for individuals aged between 20 and 30 is expected to attract 420,000 youth contributors nationwide.

“The incentive will be implemented from January 1, 2014, for a period of five years, involving RM210 million allocation,” he added. — Bernama