SEREMBAN, Sept 11 — The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has urged self-employed workers who do not have a fixed income to take the opportunity to participate in the Employees Provident Fund’s (EPF) i-Saraan scheme initiated by the government to ensure they will get the social security benefits.
Deputy Finance Minister II, Mohd Shahar Abdullah when making the call said the number of registrants recorded for the scheme as of June 2020 was small, at 255,000 individuals out of the total of 2.7 million individuals who are self-employed.
“Out of 255,000 individuals, only 18 per cent are active contributors while the rest are inactive.
“The government’s initiative must be capitalised by the people, for instance the National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana) which allocates a grant of up to RM50 million for social security network under EPF, that is i-Saraan,” he said today.
Mohd Shahar said this to reporters after making a working visit to the EPF here, which was also attended by Section Head, Government Procurement Division who is also team member of Budget 2021, Ahmad Fauzi Sungip.
Elaborating further, he said the scheme is open to those who are self-employed such as traders, gig economy, housewives, e-hailing, and taxi drivers aged 55 and below, and it also provides similar benefits as those in formal jobs who contribute to the EPF.
“We are also encouraging the youths involved in the gig economy to make use of this opportunity given by the government and register with this scheme,” he said, adding that under i-Saraan, the government also contributes 15 per cent or a maximum of RM250 per year on top of the workers’ own contribution.
Meanwhile, on Budget 2021, Mohd Shahar said some 450,000 respondents had participated in providing proposals and input for the budget which will be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat on November 6.
The proposals for Budget 2021 which was uploaded on the Finance Ministry’s official website have started since August 15 and will end on Tuesday next week.
Budget 2021 will be framed across four broad themes - caring for the people, steering the economy, sustainable living, and enhancing public service delivery.
— Bernama
