KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 — The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) could increase the overall withdrawal limit in retirement savings to RM120,000, while also getting those who are making withdrawals in light of the Covid-19 pandemic to agree to receive smaller dividends to make up for the savings withdrawal, PKR MP Noor Amin Ahmad suggested today.

In his debate on the Bill for Budget 2021, the Kangar MP said he was thankful that the EPF had yesterday rolled out details on the i-Sinar scheme — a facility which allows EPF contributors to make withdrawals of up to 10 per cent of their EPF Account 1 savings — following calls by both government and Opposition MPs for such a scheme.

He noted however that over 65 per cent of EPF contributors have less than RM50,000 in EPF savings and that more than 72 per cent of employees do not have emergency savings, adding that this indicates the existence of a structural economic problem that must be tackled.

Noor Amin then went on to make four proposals to EPF, stating: “First, we should set the ceiling withdrawal at RM12,000 for each contributor at RM50,000, and the overall withdrawal limit to be RM120,000, not RM90,000.”

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Noor Amin also suggested that EPF contributors with less than RM50,000 in EPF savings should be given a maximum withdrawal limit of RM12,000, along with additional injection by the government of RM1,200 per month for six months.

“Just now I already said if we don’t give allocations to Jasa and local community mobilisers (Penggerak Komuniti Tempatan (PeKT), we can help 15,000 workers with a payment of RM1,000 per month for six months. I hope the finance minister will consider this,” he said.

Noor Amin also proposed that all EPF contributors should be allowed to make early pre-retirement withdrawals under the i-Sinar facility, instead of having a bureaucracy filter out applicants and only allow those who have lost their jobs, are on unpaid leave or with a reduced income make the i-Sinar withdrawals.

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He argued that the filtering would slow down the process of aid reaching EPF contributors.

“Fourth, no need to repay, but make a mechanism where contributors who want to withdraw the money now agree to receive a lower dividend in the future and this reduced dividend in the future be deposited back as a replacement for the withdrawals now until the amount is the same as what was withdrawn,” he suggested.

Yesterday, EPF announced the details of the i-Sinar facility that was announced in the recent Budget 2021 speech, stating that it is expected to benefit two million eligible members — covering those who have lost their jobs, were given no-pay leave or have no other source of income — with an estimated advance amount of RM14 billion to be made available.

With a maximum 10 per cent allowed to be withdrawn from the EPF Account 1 savings with the condition that there is a minimum balance of RM100, EPF yesterday said members with RM90,000 and below in Account 1 can withdraw up to RM9,000, while those with more than RM90,000 in Account 1 can withdraw up to RM60,000.

EPF also said that those who make withdrawals under i-Sinar will have to replace the full amount advanced, with future contributions by such contributors to be fully channelled to Account 1 until the withdrawn amount is replenished before the contributions revert to the typical arrangement of 70 per cent to Account 1 and 30 per cent to Account 2.