KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 — The Retirement Fund (Incorporated), or KWAP, has allocated RM20 million in Budget 2026 for a micro-financing programme to empower 3,000 entrepreneurs.
KWAP assistant vice-president Wan Najwa Wan Sulaiman said the fund will help retirees returning to work but face challenges reintegrating into the workforce.
“The fund is channelled through our strategic partner, Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia, which has a 99.9 per cent repayment rate record.
“KWAP will work with agencies like HRD Corp to provide support and opportunities to those returning to work,” she said.
Wan Najwa was a panellist on a care forum titled “Investing in the Future Care”, held during the Selangor International Care Summit (SICS) at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre here yesterday.
She said studies done by KWAP with Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) through the MyAgeing Research Institute on 6,500 civil servants revealed that most of them don’t earn enough.
“Studies also showed that out of 800,000 civil servants who get paid monthly, only 20 per cent think they get paid enough, while 80 per cent said the wages are not enough for a lifetime.
“The main factors identified were high living costs, especially for children’s education, to the point (employees) have to work after retiring … not because they want to, but because they have to,” Wan Najwa said.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim tabled Budget 2026 in Parliament.
He announced a RM470 billion allocation for next year’s financial plan, with RM338.2 billion going to governance spending and RM81 billion to development expenses.
