The employees’ provident fund will earn a higher interest rate of 8.8 per cent for 2015-16, marginally up from the existing 8.75 per cent. There has been demand to hike the PF interest rate to 8.90 per cent. Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said the hike is an ‘interim one’ and indicated that it could be further revised later. There is global slowdown and interest rates in India are also coming down, the minister said, adding that the Reserve Bank of India and other central government organisations are monitoring market trends.