Finance Minister says 60% of EPF members could reach the basic savings target of RM390,000 by age 60 by 2030, as new measures aim to boost retirement adequacy

KUALA LUMPUR: An estimated 60% of Employees Provident Fund members could achieve the basic savings level of around RM390,000 by age 60 by 2030.

Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan revealed this projection in the Dewan Negara today.

He said 3.1 million, or 41.2%, of active Malaysian citizen members in the formal sector had already met the basic savings level for their age by the end of 2025.

This leaves 4.42 million, or 58.8%, of formal sector members below the targeted minimum savings for retirement.

Amir Hamzah was responding to a question from Senator Datuk Ng Keng Heng about future savings adequacy.

The government is committed to controlling the erosion of savings from early withdrawals.

It has introduced a Retirement Income Adequacy benchmark to guide members’ withdrawal decisions.

“This encourages more prudent long-term financial planning,” said Amir Hamzah.

Other measures to strengthen savings include account restructuring with new Flexible Accounts.

The EPF is also promoting voluntary contributions via i-Simpan, i-Saraan, and i-Topup programmes.

Awareness campaigns encourage members to opt for monthly pension payments over lump-sum withdrawals.

“This can affect income after retirement,” he cautioned regarding full withdrawals.

Registered active employers with the EPF grew 4.2% to 640,391 as of December 2025.

The number of formal sector workers also increased by 3.3% to 8.2 million last year.

Annual contributions from Malaysian citizen members rose 12% to RM120.0 billion in 2025.

This positive growth contributes to improving overall retirement savings levels.

 The Sun Malaysia