KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — The Finance Ministry will expedite the Bantuan Prihatin Nasional Phase 2 (BPN 2.0) payments totalling RM2.38 billion to the 11.06 million eligible recipients, who comprise 10.6 million BPN recipients and about 460,000 new recipients.
Its minister, Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz, said payments to the B40 and M40 groups would be credited directly into their bank accounts starting January 21 and January 25, respectively.
Those without bank accounts would be able to receive payments at Bank Simpanan Nasional branches from January 25 onwards subject to the bank’s standard operating procedure guidelines, he said in a statement today.
As for recipients in Sabah and Sarawak who do not have a bank account, he said payments would be made from early February to April 1 at locations to be announced at the end of this month.
Tengku Zafrul said the 460,000 new recipients were approved during the application/appeal period from October 15 to November 15 last year.
Approvals can be checked starting January 15 at the official BPN portal, https://bpn.hasil.gov.my.
BPN 2.0 is part of the RM10 billion Prihatin Supplementary Initiative Package (Kita Prihatin) announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on Sept 23 last year.
Two payout phases have been set for distributing the BPN 2.0 assistance — in October 2020 and this month.
Tengku Zafrul said to-date, RM7.18 billion had been paid or allocated to the 11.06 million BPN 2.0 recipients, comprising 5.82 million unmarried individuals and 5.24 million households.
“The government is always committed to ensuring the allocated assistance reaches those who are targeted in order to safeguard the people’s well-being,” he added.
— Bernama
