by DASHVEENJIT KAUR/ pic by RAZAK GHAZALI

WITHIN the first three days of the ePenjana (short-term National Economic Recovery Plan) programme, more than 4.5 million people successfully received RM50 via their e-wallets, Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz (picture) said.

In the 15th Laksana report on the implementation of the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package (Prihatin) and Penjana, Tengku Zafrul said since ePenjana was announced, there was an increase of two million new MySejahtera users to a total of 9.4 million users.

“The government launched ePenjana on July 31, 2020, intending to stimulate retail businesses and promote the use of digital payments,” he said in his report yesterday.

He also reminded the public that ePenjana can be redeemed using one of the three e-wallet service providers, namely Boost, GrabPay and Touch ‘n Go eWallet.

“Users must also download the latest version of the MySejahtera app. The older version of the app does not support the redemption of ePenjana.

“In addition, the filter functions have been improved in the verification and approval processes. This is due to challenges faced by applicants, especially in the name-matching process in the database.

“I would like to remind you to not use nicknames like Superman, Boboi and Achik when registering,” he added.

Wage subsidy programme and loan moratorium

The Social Security Organisation (Socso) approved RM8.97 billion under the wage subsidy programme as of July 24, 2020, benefiting over 2.58 million workers.

“Socso has also uploaded the names of employers who have received assistance under this programme.

“This action was taken after complaints were received from the public that a handful of employers who had taken the subsidy were still laying off workers or cutting their wages without their agreement,” he said.

On the loan repayment moratorium that took effect on April 1, he said the total value of the moratorium was estimated to have reached RM62.8 billion as of July 24.

From the total, RM21.9 billion benefitted the business sector while RM40.8 billion benefitted the people.

My30 and Tekun

As of July 24, 179,349 of the My30 unlimited travel passes worth RM30.5 million were sold (an increase from RM20.4 million).

The My30 pass can be used for mass rapid transit (MRT), light rapid transit, monorail, bus rapid transit, RapidKL bus and MRT feeder bus.

The Tekun Business Recovery Scheme (TBRS), which was open for applications on July 13, saw 718 applicants approved within 11 days, up until July 24, 2020. The applications approved were worth RM5.27 million.

Bantuan Sara Hidup

The payments for the third phase of Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) 2020 have been made from July 24 onwards with an allocation of RM3 billion that will benefit almost 4.28 million recipients, covering 3.75 million households and 0.53 million single individuals (between 40 and 59 years old).

Tengku Zafrul said the figure also includes 3.8 million children of eligible BSH recipients aged 18 and below.

“As of July 31, 2020, the third phase consisting of 4.13 million recipients had the BSH payment successfully credited into their bank accounts, amounting to RM2.7 billion in total,” he added.

The minister also said the distribution process for communities living in rural areas required more effort than usual.

“This included taking boats to islands, travelling for hours through forests by representatives of the ministry, Bank Simpanan Nasional as well as the Sabah and Sarawak branches of the National Treasury,” he said.