He said the action is callous as people continue to struggle financially with lesser job opportunities while the prices of basic necessities continue to rise.

“Even the economic review for 2022 foresees the prospect of a slow economic recovery which will increase the cost of living for the people,” he said in a statement today.

Asyraf said the bank loan moratoriums have started to come to an end, and the government is still keeping silent on the request to allow EPF contributors a final withdrawal of RM10,000.

“To ensure the Keluarga Malaysia concept is felt by the majority of the people, it is necessary for the government to continue exempting this RM1 charge for at least one year,” he said.

He said Umno does not see any problem for Malaysian banks to absorb the RM1 fee because their accumulated profits for 2021 amount to “tens of billions of ringgit”.

“Once again, Umno Youth urges the finance minister to side with the people who are struggling,” he said.

The government introduced an exemption to the MEPS interbank withdrawal fee on April 6, 2020 to help ease the people’s burden during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the banks announced that the RM1 fee will be reinstated from Feb 1.