Tengku Zafrul seen during the special press conference held in conjunction with the ‘Setahun Malaysia Prihatin’ programme at his ministry in Putrajaya. — Bernama photo
KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has opened the window for withdrawal for Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (BPN) 2.0 recipients up till June 2021, said its minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.
He said those without bank accounts could claim the cash payment from any Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) branches, thus avoiding the need to rush in withdrawing their BPN 2.0 cash aid, of which the payout had kicked off in October last year.
“The cash aid distribution in Sabah and Sarawak is organised by the Malaysian Treasury Sabah and Malaysian Treasury Sarawak, with the support from the Inland Revenue Board (IRB), BSN and the respective state governments.
“There are 16 locations in Sabah for over 19,000 recipients, and 30 in Sarawak for 22,000 recipients involved in the aid distribution, which is being undertaken from February to April 2021,” he said.
Tengku Zafrul said the government would also increase the cash aid distribution activities and programmes in areas without BSN branches.
In relation to that, he said BSN would also dispatch its mobile banking services into the interiors of Sabah and Sarawak.
“For Sarawak, the services are in the process of being approved. In Sabah, these mobile banking services are expected to begin in June 2021,” he added.
Overall, Tengku Zafrul said for Sarawak, the total cash aid that had been channelled to the state BPN under the Economic Stimulus Package was RM1.83 billion, meant to benefit 1.04 million recipients.
He added that for the Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat (BPR) Phase 1, RM180 million had been approved for Sarawak that would benefit some 800,000 recipients.
“In line with the increased eligibility for BPR to those with household monthly income of less than RM5,000, versus the previous Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH)’s eligibility of household monthly income of less than RM4,000, the number of recipients also increased to 800,000 for BPR against BSH’s 514,000 recipients in 2020,” said Tengku Zafrul.
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