KUALA LUMPUR, Apr 17 — Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said that the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) will begin disbursing payments for the special RM10,000 withdrawal tomorrow (April 18) instead of the planned April 20.

He said that he had received many messages from Malaysians on social media asking him to hasten the disbursement of the special EPF withdrawals.

"I have heard your voices. After discussing the matter with EPF, I am pleased to announce that the payments of the special withdrawal will be credited gradually starting from April 18 instead of April 20 as previously announced.

"I hope the expedition of the funds will further brighten #KeluargaMalaysia’s coming Aidilfitri celebrations, God Willing,” he said in a Facebook post.

On March 16, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that Malaysians will be allowed to make a special withdrawal of RM10,000 from their retirement savings with EPF.

Ismail Sabri said the government had heard and studied requests from all who want to make withdrawals from their EPF savings, beginning April 1.

Yesterday, EPF said that it has received a total of 5.3 million applications worth RM40.1 billion under the Special Withdrawal facility as of 8pm April 14.

The Special Withdrawal facility will be closed on April 30, 2022.