BPN 2.0 payout starts Oct 26

PUTRAJAYA: The first phase in the payment of Bantuan Prihatin Nasional 2.0 (BPN 2.0) will be done in stages starting Oct 26, says the Finance Ministry.

This will be channelled to the 10.6 million BPN recipients from the existing households and unmarried individual categories in stages, it said in a statement yesterday.

The breakdown of the payment for the first phase, which totals RM4.8bil, is as follows: RM2.56bil to 3.7 million recipients from the B40 households with income below RM4,000; RM1.33bil to 3.8 million B40 unmarried individuals with income below RM2,000; RM0.56bil to 1.4 million M40 households with income between RM4,001 and RM8,000 and RM0.35bil to 1.7 million individuals from the M40 community earning between RM2,001 and RM4,000.

According to Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, the BPN 2.0 initiative as a whole amounts to RM7bil and will be channelled through two phases of payments in October this year and January next year.

He said the existing BPN recipients would receive payments based on their eligibility.

For the first phase, B40 households with income below RM4,000 will receive RM700, B40 unmarried individuals with income below RM2,000 will receive RM350, M40 households with income between RM4,001 and RM8,000 will receive RM400 and M40 unmarried individuals will receive RM200, while the second phase will see these BPN recipients receiving the remaining RM300, RM150, RM200 and RM100, respectively.

For BPN recipients without a bank account, he said cash payments would be made at Bank Simpanan Nasional outlets from Oct 26 until Dec 31.

He added that BPN recipients in Sabah and Sarawak would receive the financial aid at the same dates as those in Peninsular Malaysia, but those without a bank account would receive a lump sum payment starting January 2021 at a yet to be announced payment location.

Additionally, new applications for BPN 2.0 will open from Oct 15 to Nov 15.