KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 — The Volunteer Scheme under the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) will be implemented by the third quarter of next year, said Deputy Minister of Finance, Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah.

He said the scheme would enable husbands to contribute two per cent out of their EPF 11 per cent share to the wife who is working or a housewife.

‘‘Yesterday, Dewan Negara has approved the EPF Bill (Amendment) 2019. We introduce a voluntary scheme for husbands to voluntarily give two per cent from the 11 per cent deductions made on their shares to the wives.

‘‘The husband must be working and has an employer, a Malaysian citizen and nor-citizen. It is also open to non-citizen husbands because by virtue of their wife’s citizenship status, they also also citizens,’’ he told a media conference at the Parliament lobby here today.

He said the wives must be citizens who were working or were housewives.

Amiruddin said the scheme was a recognition to women and was an assurance of their future.

‘‘It will stop when the marriage is dissolved or when death occurs. We hope this scheme will receive a good response from husbands for the sake of the future of their wives,’’ he said. — Bernama