Education, medical reasons and unemployment assistance tops the list of reasons members continue to withdraw from the Fiji National Provident Fund.

The FNPF currently holds $3.3 billion in members’ funds and latest figures reveal that partial withdrawals totaled $250.632 million in 2007.

The FNPF said reasons for withdrawals include education, medical, funeral, unemployment assistance, overseas employment, re-employment for security services, overseas resettlement on provisional residency visa, and short term re-employment for tour of duty and low income.

Meanwhile, the FNPF stressed that it is governed by the FNPF act which dictates how much is to be contributed by both the employer and employee and any changes to increase the current 8% contributions would require extensive consultation.