KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — The government is finalising details on the withdrawal access for the proposed Employees Provident Fund (EPF) Flexible Account, said Deputy Finance Minister I Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan.
He said there will be no withdrawal access from EPF accounts like previously.
“From next year, we will have the Flexible Account, but the method (of withdrawal) and the percentage of savings fund that can be put into the Flexible Account have not been finalised.
“However, the aim is to assist EPF members for withdrawals during emergencies,” he said in response to a query from Datuk Mohd Fasiah Mohd Fakeh (Sabak Bernam-BN) on targeted withdrawals by EPF contributors in the Dewan Rakyat today.
During the Budget 2024 tabling recently, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that the accounts of EPF members will be restructured to strengthen retirement savings. Towards this end, the Flexible Account, a new EPF account to allow accessibility to members at any time, will be introduced.
Meanwhile, Ahmad said the EPF’s domestic investments are expected to increase to RM700 billion by the end of 2023, up nine per cent compared with 2022.
He said the retirement fund will continue to prioritise domestic investments by channeling most of its annual allocated fund into the local market, including in the money market in local banks.
As of June 2023, EPF investments in the domestic market totalled RM665 billion.
“EPF investments are guided by the fund allocations determined annually by its investment panel. For the 2018-2022 period, the EPF allocated an average of more than 80 per cent of its annual fund for investments in the domestic market,” Ahmad said.
He added that in 2023, RM97 billion or 83 per cent of its total annual fund has been allocated.
In 2022-2024, the EPF invested in, among others, fixed income instruments (45.5 per cent), listed equities (42.5 per cent), private equities (3.0 per cent), and money market instruments (3.0 per cent), said Ahmad.
In reply to a query from Khairil Nizam Khirudin (Jerantut-PN) on the installation of automated teller machine in Batu Balai, Felda Lepar (Pahang), Ahmad said the Finance Ministry and banks will continue to expand mobile banking services.
