EPF denies claims of cash crisis to pay pre-retirement money

SHAH ALAM - The Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) has denied allegations, that have been circulating on WhatsApp, about EPF facing a cash crisis and have insufficient funds to pay for pre-retirement withdrawals.

Its Corporate Affairs Department said they always maintained sufficient liquidity to meet all of its commitments.

"All overseas asset purchase and selling activities are part of the EPF's investment operations according to its strategic asset allocation and are not used to pay for pre-retirement withdrawals.

"In fact, there haa been a steady increase in the overall foreign investment over the past few years, including during the Covid-19 crisis," the department said in a statement today.

The department also denied speculations that the EPF Act 1991 would be amended to prevent retirees from withdrawing their savings.

It was said that the speculations was refering to a newspaper article on Friday titled 'Bank Negara says Malaysian could run out of savings 19 years too soon'.

"What Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) highlighted in its report was the worrying situation for retirees, caused by structural issues such as low wage, which had already existed before the pandemic.

"EPF's priority in regards to this matter is to rebuild the retirement savings and extend protection to those who are excluded from the current scope in the EPF Act 1991.

"We are also currently discussing with the government about potential reform ideas to deal with insufficient retirement savings issue which was affected due to the pandemic," the statement said.

The department advised EPF members to only refer to authentic news from official sources rather than speculations on social media.