The government is considering a new Employees Provident Fund (EPF) account structure that will be implemented once members reach the minimum retirement age, the Dewan Rakyat was told yesterday.

Deputy Finance Minister Lim Hui Ying said this would apply initially only to new EPF members after the initiative's implementation.

However, existing members could opt into the new structure in the future, she added.

"Essentially, the proposed mechanism will have two components. The first is flexible savings, which can be withdrawn at any time according to the member's needs.

"The second is retirement income savings, which will be disbursed periodically or monthly until the balance is exhausted," said Lim in response to a supplementary question from Jimmy Puah Wee Tse (PH-Tebrau), who asked about the proposed mechanism announced under the 13th Malaysia Plan.

"The government is studying the matter. Any decision will be finalised only after a comprehensive engagement with stakeholders and careful consideration of members' long-term interests."

On a related matter, Lim said only 23.9 per cent of EPF members aged 18 to 65 had achieved the age-specific basic savings levels.

She said this was partly because nearly half of all EPF members were inactive contributors.

"Among formally employed active members, 38.8 per cent of those aged 18 to 55 have reached the basic savings benchmark.

"This is a notable improvement from 30.4 per cent at the end of 2022, following the Covid-19 pandemic-related withdrawals."

Lim added that up to August, the 16.5 million EPF members had total savings of RM1.31 trillion.

This was an increase of 9.9 per cent from RM1.2 trillion in 2024, and 20.8 per cent from RM1.01 trillion in 2023, she said.