Electricity bill discounts worth RM1.67 bln given as of Aug 31 - Tengku Zafrul

Tenaga Nasional Bhd has given electricity bill discounts worth RM1.67 billion to about seven million domestic users as of Aug 31, says Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

Of the total, 83 per cent was utilised by domestic users, he said in the 20th LAKSANA report on the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Plan (PRIHATIN) and National Economic Recovery Plan (PENJANA) issued here today.

Tengku Zafrul said for the commercial sector, electricity bill discounts worth RM181.7 million, representing 17 per cent of the total electricity bill discounts, were given to 1.4 million companies.

Meanwhile, cumulative withdrawals from the i-Lestari scheme under the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) from April to Aug 28, 2020 stood at RM7.54 billion, up from RM7.48 billion as of the end of last week.

The withdrawals involved 4.59 million recipients compared with 4.57 million recipients last week, he said.

Tengku Zafrul also said as of Aug 28, total applications approved by local banks and accepted by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for the SME Soft Loans Funds amounted to RM10.3 billion, up from RM10.2 billion last week, which will benefit 22,440 SMEs, compared with 22,322 SMEs last week.

Under the PENJANA SME Financing scheme, 1,615 applications were approved with RM426.2 million disbursed as of Aug 29, up from 1,172 applications approved and RM329.5 million disbursed as of Aug 21.

The Finance Minister said disbursements of one-off assistance, such as the Bantuan Prihatin Nasional assistance to students of higher learning institutions, e-hailing and taxi drivers, government retirees and others, stood at RM14.7 billion as of Aug 28, with a 94 per cent implementation rate.

For initiatives to be implemented within three to six months, such as electricity bill discounts, wage subsidies (original), moratorium, EPF e-CAP and others, this was valued at RM92.3 billion, with a 73 per cent implementation rate, he added.

-- BERNAMA