SINGAPORE - All Central Provident Fund (CPF) members will continue to receive at least 2.5 per cent interest on their Ordinary Account (OA), and 4 per cent interest on their Special, Medisave and Retirement Accounts from Oct 1 to Dec 31, the CPF Board said on Wednesday (Sept 30).

Correspondingly, the concessionary interest rate for HDB mortgage loans, which is pegged at 0.1 per cent above the OA interest rate, will remain unchanged at 2.6 per cent for the same period.

The Government has also decided to further extend the 4 per cent floor rate for interest earned on all Special, Medisave and Retirement Accounts for another year until Dec 31, 2016 due to the "the continuing low interest rate environment" the Board said.

An additional 1 percentage point of interest will also continue to be paid on the first $60,000 of a CPF member's combined balances in their Medisave, Special, Retirement and Ordinary Accounts, of which up to $20,000 can be from the Ordinary Account. This is part of the Government's efforts to enhance the retirement savings of CPF members.

As announced earlier, from Jan 1 next year, CPF members aged 55 and older will earn an additional 1 per cent extra interest on the first $30,000 of their combined balances. This is paid over and above the current extra 1 per cent interest that is earned on the first $60,000 of their combined balances.

The extra interest received on the Ordinary Account will go into the member's Special or Retirement Accounts to enhance his or her retirement savings. If a member is above 55 years old and participates in the CPF LIFE scheme, the extra interest will still be earned on his or her combined balances, which includes the savings used for CPF LIFE.