Over 96% of Phase 1 payment achieved, while Phase 2 payout has reached 49%

by DASHVEENJIT KAUR/ pic by RAZAK GHAZALI

ALL payments under the government’s RM260 billion stimulus package are expected to be completed by the end of this week, Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said in his weekly brief yesterday.

In an address on his Facebook page, Tengku Zafrul said the roll-out of the government stimulus package — nearly 18% of the country’s GDP — is on track with over 96% of Phase 1 payment achieved, while the second phase payout has reached 49%.

“Out of the total 8.3 million recipients approved, the payment achievement for Phase 1 was at 96%, while Phase 2 is ongoing and is at the 49% level,” he said when presenting the fifth report of the Prihatin Rakyat economic stimulus package.

Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (BPN)

Payments under Phase 2 between May 4 and May 10 benefitted 5.79 million recipients, totalling RM2.63 billion. Phase 1 payments benefitted 7.78 billion recipients, totalling RM5.5 billion.

“For recipients who do not have bank accounts or with the status ‘Failed to be Credited’, cash payment can be made from Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) beginning May 14 and is estimated to involve 800,000 recipients with an allocation of RM300 million,” Tengku Zafrul said.

As of May 10, 10.6 million Malaysians have benefitted from BPN.

i-Lestari Programme

Under i-Lestari, depositors are allowed to withdraw RM500 per month for 12 months from their second Employees Provident Fund (EPF) account. As of May 10, 3.7 million applications were approved for a total of RM1.76 billion in May.

Wage Subsidy

A total of RM2.1 billion worth of subsidies was approved as of May 10, benefitting 258,165 employers involving 1.9 million workers.

e-CAP for SMEs

EPF has received 13,690 applications for its Employer Covid-19 Assistance Programme (e-CAP) as of May 1, of which 2,032 were approved totalling RM13.4 million.

Soft Loans for SMEs

As of May 10, the loan scheme saw banks approving RM4.7 billion in funds to help support 11,975 SMEs.

Special Prihatin Grant for SMEs

The grant catering to micro SMEs is open for registration from May 1 to 15. According to Tengku Zafrul, as of May 10, nearly 500,000 applications were received. If approved, this would cost RM1.5 billion.

Micro Credit Scheme under BSN and Tekun

As of this week, RM114 million worth of loans were approved for 2,626 micro SMEs under BSN and RM72 million for 8,562 micro SMEs under Tekun Nasional.

Small-scale Govt Projects

The list of projects finalised is worth RM2.4 billion and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has issued a circular on the procurement procedures, in line with the requirements of the Conditional Movement Control Order.

Medical Services

Out of RM1.5 billion provided, the MoF as of end-April had approved RM1 billion in expenditure related to Covid-19 for the Ministry of Health.

Among the major expenditure included RM230 million for the purchase of personal protective equipment, materials filters and consumables (RM250 million), equipment including ventilators and thermal scanners (RM150 million) and emoluments contract personnel (RM100 million).