By Xavier Kong
A total of 7.74 million people have received their Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (BPN) assistance, with a total payment of RM5.47 bil, says Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.
This is to end on April 30, with disbursements to be made the following week after checks have been made.
More than 3.26 million requests and appeals have been received by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) regarding the first phase of the BPN as of April 26.
As of April 17, a total of over RM157,000 has been disbursed to those who do not have bank accounts.
The government will begin payouts on May 4 under the Phase Two of the BPN aid package,
Applications for the Prihatin Special Grant for micro-businesses, which will offer a grant of RM3,000 each to micro businesses, will open on May 1. The process will be streamlined and announced by the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) in the near future.
With regards to the wage subsidy aspect of the Prihatin stimulus package, as of April 26, 195,000 employers have applied for the initiative, for a total of 1.5 million employees. This brings the total subsidy disbursed to RM1.35 bil.
RM4.5 bil has also been approved for 8,500 SMEs as of April 26 under Bank Negara Malaysia’s loan fund for SMEs, an increase of 3,500 SMEs in a week.
The Covid-19 employers’ aid programme, or e-CAP, was also launched on April 23, which allows employers with up to 200 employees to delay and reorganise the employer’s contribution for the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) for April, May and June.
April 20 also saw the disbursement of the RM500 special aid promised to 2.5 million civil servants and veterans, including non-pensionable armed forces personnel. For students in institutes of higher education, the RM200 one-off aid is also being disbursed to 1.5 million students, since April 27.
The applications for DanaJamin loan guarantees will also open on May 1.
Zafrul also shared several corporate initiatives that have been taken to help in the fight against Covid-19, such as RM79 mil which has been contributed by the GLC Disaster Response Network to the Ministry of Health. This came in the form of ventilators and personal protective equipment (PPE).
Affected non-government organisations (NGOs) saw aid from the MoF and Yayasan Hasanah through the launch of a special grant on April 14 to support social programmes that improve the quality of life and help restore the economy of targeted groups, such as the B40 and other vulnerable segments.
Each social programme will be able to apply for up to RM250,000, and 100 applications have been received so far. The deadline for this is Oct 15, and the finance minister urged NGOs to apply for this.
The Ministry of Women, Family, and Community Development also saw a contribution of RM25 mil in mid-April to aid the vulnerable segments, in collaboration with social programmes and social entrepreneurs. This will be used for food aid, healthcare products and shelter for these groups.
“The government has begun efforts to develop short term, medium-term and long term plans for economic restoration, with the hope of stimulating growth in the national economy.
“We are in the midst of engaging with stakeholders to ensure that the plans are robust and comprehensive. The support of all segments of society is important in making the plan a reality and a success,” said Zafrul. – April 28, 2020
