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KUCHING, July 27: A social safety net (SSN) will be established for all Malaysians as part of the Madani Economy, the latest economic framework announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today with the goal of boosting the country’s economy.
Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, assured that SSN will be expanded to safeguard all individuals in the face of unforeseen circumstances. This includes situations where young children may unexpectedly lose a parent, adults may experience unemployment, injury, or illness, and even the elderly population.
He explained that the comprehensive ‘Social Protection Programme’ is built on three pillars: prevention through social insurance, sustainability of retirement savings, and protection through social assistance.
“For prevention through social insurance, the government has allocated RM100 million for the year 2023 to provide 80 per cent of the grant to finance gig workers’ PERKESO contributions. However, according to EPF data, more than 40 per cent of the labour force, especially informal workers, do not get proper retirement savings protection. Therefore, it is proposed to gradually expand the coverage of EPF and SOCSO to the population of working age in accordance with the phases.
“As for the sustainability of retirement savings, improvements will be made to ensure that Malaysians entering retirement will have sufficient retirement savings to cover their expenses.
“And for protection through social assistance, various cash assistance programmes and Rahmah programmes will be continued and improved to ensure that the social safety net continues to be improved,” he said during his speech today at the launch of ‘Madani Economy: Empowering the People’ in Kuala Lumpur.
Anwar continued by stating that the government will continue to bolster the employment insurance system and retraining programmes in order to provide jobs for the unemployed.
“This approach is in line with the transition from protecting jobs to protecting workers in a rapidly changing economic context,” he remarked. — DayakDaily
