FINANCE Minister Tengku Datuk Zafrul Aziz said today that the government had disbursed RM2.63 bil to 5.79 mil recipients in Phase Two of Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (BPN) aid.
He said for those who do not have a bank account or with a ‘Credit Failure’ status, they can receive their payments in cash from BSN from Thursday. This is estimated to benefit 800,000 recipients, with an allocation of RM300 mil.
Of the 8.3 million approved recipients, the First Phase achieved a 96% rate of disbursement, while the Second Phase currently stands at 49%.
“I have reminded Ministry officials to ensure that disbursements are expedited. The balance of payments due are expected to be disbursed by the end of this week,” said Zafrul.
Since May 9, those who had submitted new applications and appeals are able to review their eligibility for the BPN, with 2.3 million applications having been approved upon cross-checking of data against 10 government agencies.
This approval requires an additional allocation of RM1.7 bil. Disbursements for approved new applications and appeals will be made from Friday.
He added that there were applicants who failed to qualify for the BPN due to various factors based on the cross-checking of data among the 10 agencies. The Ministry of Finance is open to the possibility that there may have been those who qualified but had been excluded from receiving the BPN.
For instance, some would have lost their jobs this year due to Covid-19 but their employment status has not been recorded in the database. In some cases, their spouse’s data was not updated.
There were also those who are company directors but the company is currently inactive and has made no income. In view of such circumstances, the Ministry has decided to extend the BPN appeal period to May 31.
As of May 10 a total of 10.6 million Malaysians had received the BPN aid.
Last week, it was announced that EPF had approved over 3.5 million applications totalling RM1.66 bil under its i-Lestari programme. This week, as of May 10, 3.7 million applications have been approved with an estimated value of RM1.76 bil.
Together with the reduction of EPF members’ contribution from 11% to 7%, the total estimated to be received by EPF members for May is RM954.7 mil.
Based on Tenaga Nasional Bhd’s last billing cycle dated April 30 discounts totalling RM58.3 mil had been given, 84% of which had benefited households.
For the Wage Subsidy Programme, as of May 10, RM2.1 bil was approved for 258,165 employers, representing 1.9 million workers. The government hopes that this wage subsidy will help companies retain as many of their employees as possible at least until June.
“This will help maintain the existing capacity – at least at 50% – so that we are prepared to ride on the wave of economic recovery. If our capacity is too low, we will need to spend more later to increase that capacity Provision on Wage Subsidy,” said Zafrul.
As of May 10, 13,690 applications had been received, and 2,032 applications worth RM13.4 mil employers’ EPF contributions were approved.
“I would like to emphasise that it is not easy to process thousands of applications, and I would like to request a bit of patience from employers. The EPF and other government agencies need to review each employer’s application for deferment of contribution on a case-by-case basis,” added Zafrul.
As of May 10, applications approved by local banks amounts to RM4.7 bil, which will benefit 11,975 SMEs.
Under the BSN Micro Credit Scheme, 2,626 applications worth RM114 mil were approved this week while under the Tekun programme, 8,562 applications were approved, with a total value of RM72 mil.
The Ministry of Finance has issued a circular on procurement procedures in line with the CMCO requirements. For example, given the requirement for social distancing, the balloting process will no longer be held in a hall with hundreds of contractors physically present. Instead, it will be held in government offices with live broadcasts via social media.
As of end-April, the Ministry of Finance had approved RM1 bil for Coid-19-related expenditure by the Ministry of Health. – May 12, 2020
