KUCHING, March 10: The Federal government is considering introducing a method that will allow Employees Provident Fund (EPF) savings to be used as collateral to take up emergency loans from banks.
In a news report by TVS, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim however said that this will only apply to those who are really in desperate need of money.
“In principle, I do not agree with the special withdrawal of EPF as it is meant as retirement savings, which we gave leeway during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Instead, I suggest another method to assist those who desperately need money. I will make sure that EFP will provide some room to allow contributors with enough savings who are in desperate situations to borrow from the bank with their savings used as collateral,” he said when delivering his winding-up speech for the policy stage of Budget 2023 in Parliament, Kuala Lumpur yesterday (March 9).
Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, added that this is the best measure that could be taken given that many countries which have previously provided withdrawal of retirement funds flexibility have stopped doing so.
Meanwhile, the Supply Bill 2023, which was the first budget tabled by the unity government led by Anwar, was passed at the policy stage with a majority voice vote after being debated for six days since Feb 27 followed by the winding-up for each ministry.
The Budget 2023 has allocated RM388.1 billion with RM289.1 billion for operating expenditure and RM99 billion for development expenditure including RM2 billion reserved for contingencies.
The budget will now be put through the committee stage. — DayakDaily
