He who was speaking yesterday during the committee stage debate on the budget 2016 said discussions will be held to set up a pension scheme for private sector and expect to revise the labour rules.

 

 

Currently, around 8.5 millions employees are in semi government and private sector and only 2.4 million out of them has  joined  the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF). This fund which has an asset of Rs. 1300 billions is the largest fund in South Asia, the Minster added. 

 

 

He also informed that the legislation to allow EPF recipients to withdraw 30 per cent of the provident fund would be brought in soon. The Minister said that around 70,269 applications had been received by the Labour Department for the 30 percent withdrawal of EPF balance for housing and medical purposes.

 

 

He said that this process was delayed due to the labour shortage and some other technical issues. Immediate measures have been taken by the ministry to solve these problems. Measures will also be taken to provide this facility to all the applicants by May 2016, he added.