Govt borrowing cost increases RM830mil a year due to EPF withdrawals of RM101bil

Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz

KUALA LUMPUR: The negative impact from portfolio balancing by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) due to withdrawals by its members has caused the borrowing cost of the government to increase due to added interest payments amounting to RM830 million a year.

On the whole, EPF members have had access to their retirement funds of up to RM71,000 through three special EPF withdrawal schemes, namely i-Lestari, i-Sinar, and i-Citra, which benefitted more than 7.3 million members, or 58% of the 12.7 million members, with the withdrawals totalling RM101 billion.