Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said the statutory body should look to find new domestic investments to achieve this 70% target.

Officiating the opening of the Kwasa Damansara EPF Tower here, Anwar reiterated that there will be no further EPF withdrawal schemes.

Although he acknowledged that this was an unpopular decision, he said it was necessary to safeguard the contributors’ future.

He said he would not make a decision that would only satisfy a small group of EPF contributors, since the statutory body was responsible for maintaining the old age pension fund.

He maintained that the previous three EPF withdrawal facilities were understandable as things were different when Covid-19 was at its peak, with many Malaysians facing desperate circumstances.

“But now, people are free to go out to work. That’s why I agree with the EPF management’s proposal to no longer allow emergency withdrawals,” he said.

Anwar acknowledged that Perikatan Nasional (PN) may play the issue up in campaigning for the state polls in six states, but brushed them off.

“It does not worry us,” he said.

PN had repeatedly called for Putrajaya to implement another EPF withdrawal scheme since Anwar took over the top post. PN MPs had also staged a walkout in the Dewan Rakyat after their bid to debate the proposal was rejected.

The government had allowed three special EPF withdrawal schemes during the pandemic – i-Lestari and i-Sinar, both in 2020, and i-Citra in 2021. A total of RM101 billion was taken out by contributors, according to EPF.

Meanwhile, Anwar said the government has yet to discuss increasing employers’ EPF contribution to 20% from the current 13%.

Last week, he said the Cabinet will discuss the proposal made by the Uni Malaysia Labour Centre, which called for employers’ EPF contribution to be raised to 20% for those earning RM4,000 and below.

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