PETALING JAYA: The financial wellbeing of Malaysia's ageing population has been given attention in Budget 2024.
Employees Provident Fund (EPF) chief executive officer Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan said the Budget announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Friday (Oct 13) addressed some concerns EPF raised on the long-term financial wellbeing of Malaysians.
"The Budget reflects an important step forward in prioritising the financial security and prosperity of Malaysia’s ageing population due to the low level of protection under the formal pension and retirement schemes among Malaysians.
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"Currently, only 60% of the labour force is covered under formal retirement schemes, namely the EPF Scheme for private workers and the Civil Service Pension Scheme," he said in a statement on Monday (Oct 16).
He added that the low level of savings among EPF members also had to be addressed to ensure that they can retire comfortably and meaningfully.
The statement said among the key highlights of Budget 2024 were an increase of government matching incentives fo ther i-Saraan programme, expansion of the i-Sayang programme to husbands, extension of the i-Suri programme with matching contributions and maximum incentive amount for housewives, and restructuring of EPF accounts.
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"EPF welcomes the initiative to extend the i-Saraan programme beyond 2023 and increase the annual maximum incentive limit from RM300 to RM500 per year.
"Additionally, the programme has also been enhanced where eligible Malaysians in the informal sector, including housewives and those with no fixed income under 60 years of age will have the opportunity to receive a lifetime incentive of RM5,000 per individual, with a cap of RM500 per year.
"This incentive is set to benefit more than 350,000 current and new i-Saraan participants."
The i-Sayang programme will be expanded to include husbands next year.
"Working wives will have the option to allocate 2% of their monthly EPF contributions (employee’s portion) to their husbands’ EPF accounts.
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"The i-Sayang programme, launched in March, allows husbands to voluntarily allocate 2% of their monthly EPF contributions (employee’s portion) to the EPF accounts of their wives.
"Since its launch, about 34,000 husbands have registered and participated in i-Sayang, equivalent to a cumulative savings of RM14.7mil," the statement added.
The i-Suri programme, which has been extended with matching contributions and maximum incentive amount for housewives, acknowledges the contribution of housewives to family development and in nation building.
"A matching incentive will be provided for every ringgit contributed to the EPF scheme by housewives below age 60 years old registered in the e-Kasih database.
"In addition, participants of the i-Suri programme will have the opportunity to receive a lifetime incentive of up to RM3,000 per individual, subject to a cap of RM300 matching incentive per year."
Lastly, in line with the rapid ageing phenomenon and the increasingly informal work landscape in Malaysia, EPF said it continues to review the EPF scheme to ensure that members can meet their living needs without affecting their retirement savings.
"To help members balance short-, medium- and long-term needs, EPF members’ accounts will be restructured to strengthen their retirement savings for their old-age wellbeing.
"At the same time, EPF will also introduce a Flexible Account as a new account that can be accessed by members at any time, especially in emergencies," the statement read.
