KUALA LUMPUR: More than 15 million Malaysians made purchases using the one‑off Sumbangan Asas Rahmah cash aid between August 31 and October 6, says the Finance Ministry.
This accounted for 71% of the 22 million eligible Malaysians, with transactions exceeding RM1.34bil.
The ministry said the Sara payment system can now handle almost 2,700 transactions per minute, compared with 540 in April.
“The processing system has also been improved from 5,000 to 15,000 queries per minute,” it said in a written reply on Thursday (Oct 9).
It added that many of the 100,000 items eligible under Sara and Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah are produced by local micro, small and medium enterprises.
“The situation will be continuously monitored to ensure government aid programmes reach those in need to manage the cost of living,” it said.
The ministry was responding to Khoo Poay Tiong (PH ‑Kota Melaka), who asked about issues faced by retailers and the rakyat regarding the one‑off RM100 Sara aid and steps to ease its rollout.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim previously announced the one‑off distribution to all citizens aged 18 and above, in conjunction with National Day 2025.
The cash assistance is channelled directly through MyKad and can be used to purchase necessities across 14 selected product categories.
It can be spent at over 4,100 premises nationwide.
