Up to 10.22 million recipients have received the Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (BPN) assistance amounting to RM10.9 billion as part of the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package and the short term National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana) implementation as of June 26.
According to the 11th Laksana report that was published yesterday, this represents an increase of beneficiaries from a week ago which stood 10.19 million or 97.32% implementation rate for the financial assistance.
Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said between June 19 and 26, RM20 million in cash had been disbursed to 25,000 BPN recipients through Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) branches nationwide.
“Payments for successful appellants had been made on June 24-29, which amounted to RM139 million.
“For Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) recipients, those in Peninsular Malaysia, and Sabah and Sarawak (non-rural areas), the payments for Phase 3 will be made by end-July, benefitting five million recipients, comprising 3.8 million households and 1.2 million individuals,” he said in the report.
He said the government has allocated RM3 billion for the Phase 3, whereby the aid is given based on income levels.
“Recipients for the household category will also receive an additional assistance of RM120 per child under 18 years old for up to four children.
“As previously announced, the BPN cash payments, as well as Phases 2 and 3 of BSH for rural areas of Sabah and Sarawak without bank accounts will commence from July 1-31,” he added.
Phases 2 and 3 of the BSH will be facilitated by both Sabah and Sarawak Treasuries, whereby the initiative will benefit 53,325 recipients with a total financial payout of RM2.87 million.
“The treasuries will visit the designated locations in the rural areas of the two states to facilitate the delivery of the aid. The breakdown of recipients by state comprises of 41,995 in Sarawak and 11,330 in Sabah with a total of 53,325 recipients,” he said.
The Employees Provident Fund’s (EPF) i-Lestari programme has approved 4.34 million applications with a value of RM2.17 billion per month as of June 26, whereas in the previous week about 4.3 million applications were approved with a total value of RM2.01 million.
Meanwhile, the special grant (GKP) for micro small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has been disbursed for RM1.63 billion benefitting 544,500 micro SMEs as of June 26.
“Disbursements for 21,983 micro SMEs that had successfully appealed for the GKP will involve an allocation of RM65.95 million and will be made on July 2,” he said.
The wage subsidy programme saw a total of RM7.07 billion being approved for 307,518 employers which benefits over 2.46 million employees.
“Up to June 26, 36,107 applications had been received and 9,542 applications were approved, amounting to RM63.9 million in terms of employers’ contribution for the EPF’s Covid- 19 assistance programme for employers,” he said.
The SME soft loan funds administered by Bank Negara Malaysia has also approved a total financing amounting to RM8.4 billion as of June 26 by local banks and officially accepted by 19,539 SMEs. “As of June 19, the amount approved and accepted stood at RM8.2 billion which benefits 19,253 SMEs,” he noted.
The moratorium on loan repayment by financial institutions that took effect on April 1 has an estimated value of RM47.5 billion.
“Out of this figure, a total of RM16.6 billion was utilised by the business sector, while RM30.9 billion was utilised by the people via financing facilities that qualified for the moratorium, whereby borrowers are reminded that the period will end on Sept 30, 2020,” he said.
With an allocation of RM5.3 billion, the enhanced wage subsidy programme allows employers to start applying from June 15.
“Under the enhanced programme, workers in the tourism and prohibited sectors during the Movement Control Order who have been put on unpaid leave are eligible to receive wage subsidies, provided these workers receive these wage subsidies directly,” he said.
The Penjana Kerjaya, which is the hiring incentive and training assistance programme, has a government allocation of RM1.5 billion, has been noted by the Social Security Organisation to have registered a total of 107,971 jobseekers and 85,578 jobs.
Source: https://themalaysianreserve.com/2020/07/01/mof-more-than-10m-benefitted-from-bpn-aid-worth-almost-rm11b/