Debated in Parliament on 1 Oct 2018.
Assoc Prof Daniel Goh Pei Siong asked the Minister for Manpower (a) what are the number and percentage of eligible CPF members who made withdrawals from age 55 in the last five years; (b) what was the average amount withdrawn; (c) how many withdrew to the limit; (d) how many were eligible to withdraw up to $5,000 only; and (e) how many withdrew the full $5,000.
Upon turning 55, all Central Provident Fund (CPF) members can make a withdrawal of $5,000, subject to available balances in the Ordinary and Special Accounts. In addition, those with savings above the Full Retirement Sum (FRS) can withdraw all the monies above that amount. Those who own a property can withdraw monies above the Basic Retirement Sum (BRS) using property charge or pledge.
For the three cohorts of 186,000 CPF members that turned 55 from 2014 to 2016, around 109,000 (59%) members made a withdrawal within a year of their 55th birthday. These included both active as well as infrequent contributors to CPF. The average amount withdrawn was about $34,000. Of the 109,000 members, 62% of them or around 68,000 withdrew the maximum allowable amount. Of the 105,000 members who could withdraw up to $5,000, 57% or around 60,000, did so.
Through schemes like the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) and Silver Support (SS), the Government continues to provide additional retirement support to lower-income Singaporeans as well as seniors who could not build up much CPF in their working lives. Based on the latest available data, 424,000 Singaporeans received $667 million in WIS in 2016 and 152,000 seniors received SS payouts totalling $333 million in 2017.
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