UALA LUMPUR, Nov 21 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is confident the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) will properly manage the RM6.5 billion federal allocation under Budget 2020 to encourage job creation.

Speaking at the Social Well-Being Conference 2019 today, the prime minister was among the country’s largest funds and has a proven track record for good governance.

“They have invested in many projects that have given a good return for the EPF, even with withdrawals the amount still with the EPF is huge and we need to invest that money. 

“Otherwise, we cannot give a return to the people who have contributed to the EPF. 

Advertisement

“So it is good management that is important and we give quite a free hand for the EPF to invest in order to give a good return to the fund,” he said when asked if additional measures would be taken to prevent possible abuse of the funds.

The RM6.5 billion was from the Malaysia@Work scheme announced in Budget 2020, which aims to incentivise employers to hire more workers by offsetting some statutory contributions.