KUALA LUMPUR: The government has agreed to contribute RM500 to Employees Provident Fund (EPF) members aged between 40 and 54 who have less than RM10,000 in their Account 1.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, when presenting Budget 2023 in the Dewan Rakyat here today, said the program will benefit two million EPF members involving an allocation of almost RM1 billion.

“After the country was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the people had several times sacrificed their retirement savings to cope with their daily needs. And now they have slowly started rebuilding their lives. 

“The government is committed to helping the people rebuild their retirement savings to ensure it will be sufficient to finance their retirement,” he said.

This is the first budget presented under the Anwar-led Unity Government.

To encourage more self-employed individuals contribute to the EPF, he said the government will increase the value of the i-Saraan matching contribution to RM300 compared to RM250 previously, involving a RM30 million allocation with over 100,00 contributors benefiting. 

Anwar said the total individual investment limit of Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) and Amanah Saham Bumiputera 2 (ASB2) will be increased to RM300,000 compared to RM200,000 before.

The government has also agreed to increase the size of the Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM) fund by RM5 billion, he added.

“The government supports increasing equity holdings among Bumiputeras,” he said.