Mr Ahmad added that various proposals have been made on raising voluntary contributions to the EPF. The voluntary contributions are currently set at RM60,000 per year.
“Further announcements on that will be announced when Budget 2023 is tabled on Feb 24,” he reportedly said.
A total of four withdrawals between 2020 and 2022 were allowed by the previous federal administrations under Mr Muhyiddin Yassin and Mr Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
They include the i-Lestari, i-Sinar, and i-Citra schemes as well as another special EPF withdrawal programme in April last year.
According to The Star, the RM145 billion taken out from the EPF retirement scheme comprises RM20.8 billion withdrawn by 5.3 million people under the i-Lestari scheme, RM58.7 billion by 6.6 million people under i-Sinar, RM21.4 billion by 5.2 million people under i-Citra and RM44.6 billion by 6.6 million people during the most recent withdrawal.
Earlier, Mr Muhyiddin – who is the Perikatan Nasional chairman – had urged the government to allow another round of EPF withdrawal for those in need.
“What’s wrong with considering allowing targeted one-off EPF withdrawals if that is what the people want to alleviate their burden during tough times?” he asked, as quoted by The Star, on Wednesday.