• The move to extend the retirement age would allow the Government to withhold EPF and ETF funds for another five years
• This new Act will allow the Treasury to withhold these funds for five  more years and use these funds to find temporary solutions to the  economic crisis

By Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera   

Private sector employees’ retirement age was extended to 60 years with the hidden motive of withholding the EPF and ETF funds of more than seven million employees to find a temporary solution to the Government’s economic crisis, National Peoples’ Power (NPP) MP Vijitha Herath alleged yesterday.   

He told Parliament that the move to extend the retirement age would allow the Government to withhold EPF and ETF funds for another five years.  

“Females could have obtained their EPF and ETF at the age of 50 and males at the age of 55. With the new Act, it is extended to 60 years. About Rs. 73 billion is received annually by the Central Bank as EPF and ETF funds. This new Act will allow the Treasury to withhold these funds for five more years and use these funds to find temporary solutions to the economic crisis,” he said.  

The MP said private sector employees would approve of this move because of their economic hardship and added that what should have been done was to reduce the retirement age to 50 rather than extending it if it was in a developed society.

• The MP said private sector employees would approve of this move because of their economic hardship