KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Finance Ministry (MoF) will extend the payment period for special assistance until Jan 31, 2022, Deputy Finance Minister I Datuk Mohd Shahar Abdullah said.
He said this is meant for recipients of assistance such as the Malaysian Family Assistance (BKM), Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat (BPR), COVID-19 Special Assistance (BKC) who were affected by floods recently.
"The disbursement of the aid through the Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) counter is suppose to end on Dec 31, 2021," he said during a question and answer session at the Dewan Negara today.
He was responding to a question from Senator Seruandi Saad who wanted to know about efforts taken by the MoF to facilitate the distribution of special assistance to avoid recipients from being left out.
Meanwhile, Mohd Shahar said the government's total direct cash assistance in 2021 amounted to RM17.1 billion which was distributed from January until December 2021 involving Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (BPN), BPR, BKC, and Loss of Income Assistance (BKP).
"Most recent is the BKC phase 3 payment (which was disbursed) since Dec 20, 2021 involving 3.8 million poor households and B40 recipients for RM300 cash aid, with a financial implication of RM1.2 billion,” he said.
For 2022, the government would provide B40 cash assistance with an allocation of RM8.2 billion for BKM under the COVID-19 Fund.
"As a whole, BKM will benefit more than 9.6 million recipients with an allocation of RM8.2 billion, an increase compared to 8.6 million recipients under BPR with an allocation of RM7 billion,” he said. - Bernama
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