Why manipulate EPF and ETF?

Thursday, 26 November 2015 00:38 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The EPF and ETF are retirement funds available to all those public and private employees who do not belongto the Government pension scheme. That employees contribute to EPF is also a fact.

From the inception these funds were managed by the Central Bank. Employees as well as citizens of the country believe that these funds are safe in the custody of the Central Bank. Employees who retired have not complained against the present management.

While that is the position, the Economic Policy Statement of the Government proposes to amalgamate these two funds and take them away from the Central Bank to create a new National Pension Fund to be managed under a new management authority.

Pension is a regular payment to a retired employee to allow the person to subsist without working. Then is this proposal of Pension Fund going to accumulate all EPF and ETF funds and give a regular monthly payment to the person instead of one-time lump sum payment?

What appears as essential are laws, rules, regulations and accountability fixing issues and whatever necessary to protect the funds and not remove EPF from the Central Bank.

D.Godage