BPN payment brings ray of hope for self-employed

The first phase of the Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (BPN) begins tomorrow to give a ray of hope to self-employed people after their incomes were affected since the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO from March 18.

The cash aid is seen as a way to help them survive, especially for those who were the sole family breadwinners all these while.

For gardener V. Tamilarasan, 54, from Taman Tas here, the RM1,000 aid out of the RM1,600 he was qualified to receive tomorrow would help to 'close the gap' compared to the monthly income he enjoyed before the MCO came into force.

"I can often earn RM2,000 a month to support eight family members. Since the MCO has reduced employment demand, my income is reduced by half while the monthly spending is still the same," he said when met by Bernama here today.

Tamilarasan is one of about four million households earning RM4,000 and below who is eligible for a RM1,600 BPN assistance announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package (PRIHATIN) on March 27.

BPN, which involves two phases of payments tomorrow and May, aims to help ease the financial burden of the people affected by the MCO, which was implemented to curb the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Traditional Malay cake seller Afiq Zakwan Mohamed Ansary, 23, was thankful for the BPN payments he would receive as his daily income had dropped sharply after the outlets where he placed the cakes had closed following the implementation of the MCO.

'' But that does not mean that I will be a spendthrift. If I had bought numerous items for the kitchen prior to this, the implementation of the MCO has made me thrifty by ensuring only one type of raw item is cooked each day,'' he said.

Meanwhile, a worker at a sports centre Mohd Firdaus Ghazali, 27, who is eligible to receive a BPN of RM800 for single individuals under a monthly income of RM2,000, said the assistance would be used to meet his monthly commitment which was not covered in the PRIHATIN package.

He had taken a loan from a credit company to buy a used car, leaving him in anxiety when his income was curtailed after the implementation of the MCO.

-- BERNAMA