KUALA LUMPUR: The first payout for the Perlindungan Ekonomi dan Rakyat Malaysia (Permai) assistance package, better known as Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat (BPR), will be credited into approved recipients’ bank accounts starting today.
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Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz, in a statement yesterday, said the aid will be credited in stages earlier than the announced date.
The BPR aid for the B40 group was supposed to be released in May. However, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, on Jan 18, announced that it would be expedited.
Tengku Zafrul said the Phase One assistance, with a RM1.93 billion allocation, is intended to reduce the financial burden of lower-income groups in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“A total of 8.45 million households and single individuals will benefit from this stimulus package assistance,” he said.
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He said in the first phase of the payout, 4.4 million recipients from the B40 household category will be receiving RM300; while 4.05 million individuals from the singles category will receive RM150, each.
“For household and individual singles, the aid would be credited directly into their bank accounts starting from today (Feb 24).
“Those who have not yet provided their bank details or do not have a bank account can instead visit the nearest Bank Simpanan Nasional branch starting tomorrow (Feb 25).
“As for recipients from Sabah and Sarawak without bank accounts, the payment will be made from March 1 to April 1 at locations that will be announced at a later date, together with the Bantuan Prihatin Nasional 2.0,” he said.- NST