CPF interest rates extended till end 2018

SINGAPORE – There will be no change to the minimum 4 per cent interest earned on your CPF Special, Medisave and Retirement Account (SMRA) monies until the end of 2018, the Central Provident Fund (CPF) and Housing Development Board (HDB) said on Friday (Sept 22). 
In a joint media statement, the 4 per cent interest rate for the SMRA, which was due to expire at the end of this year, will be extended until Dec 31, 2018, in view of a continuing low interest rate environment.
CPF members can also earn up to 5 per cent interest per annum on their Special and Medisave Accounts monies in the last quarter of this year, thanks to an extra 1 per cent interest paid on the first S$60,000 of these combined balances. 
Meanwhile, CPF members aged 55 and above can earn up to 6 per cent interest per year on their retirement balances. This includes an additional 1 per cent interest on the first S$30,000 of their combined balances that will be paid “over and above” the 5 per cent interest earned on their combined balances, the CPF and HDB said.

The interest rate on Ordinary Account (OA) monies will be maintained at 2.5 per cent per annum from Oct 1 to Dec 31. This means that concessionary interest rates for HDB mortgage loans, pegged at 0.1 per cent above the OA interest rate, will also remain unchanged at 2.6 per cent until then.

The SMRA interest rate has been 4 per cent since January 2008, and was originally meant to expire in 2009, but the government has continued to maintain the rate for the last nine years. Savings in the SMRA is invested in the Special Singapore Government Securities (SSGS), which earn an interest rate pegged to the 12-month average yield of 10-year Singapore Government Securities plus 1 per cent.