KUALA LUMPUR: An estimated 60% of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) members can potentially reach the basic savings level of about RM390,000 at the age of 60 by 2030.
Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan (pic), who disclosed this, said 3.1 million or 41.2% of active EPF members in the formal sector, who were Malaysian citizens aged between 18 and 55, had reached the basic savings level by that age as of the end of 2025.
“This shows that there are still 4.42 million or 58.8% of formal sector members who are Malaysian citizens who have not reached the minimum savings level targeted to ensure sufficient savings upon retirement,” he told the Dewan Negara yesterday, Bernama reported.
Amir Hamzah was replying to Senator Datuk Ng Keng Heng on the government’s official estimate of the percentage of citizens who are not expected to meet the sufficient minimum savings level by retirement age in the next 10 to 20 years.
The minister said the government, through the EPF, was committed to ensuring that the erosion of basic savings due to early withdrawals be controlled by introducing the retirement income adequacy (RIA) benchmark.
He said the RIA served as a guide to the adequacy of retirement savings, helping members assess their savings position before making withdrawal decisions, thus encouraging more prudent long-term financial planning.
“At the same time, several measures to strengthen savings continue to be implemented, including account restructuring, namely the introduction of Flexible Accounts, encouraging voluntary contributions and more active promotions involving i-Simpan, i-Saraan and i-Topup.
“EPF is also intensifying its awareness campaign to encourage members not to make full or lump sum withdrawals which can affect income after retirement, but instead choose the withdrawal option in monthly payments,” he said.
The number of active employers registered with the EPF increased by 4.2% to 640,391 as of last December, from 614,563 in 2024, while the number of formal sector workers also grew by 3.3% to 8.2 million in 2025 from 7.9 million in 2024.
This positive development contributed to the growth of annual contributions of EPF members who are Malaysian citizens to RM120bil in 2025, 12% higher than RM107.1bil in 2024.
