Budget 2021: Higher welfare aid for OKU, senior citizens, poor children

KUALA LUMPUR: More than 400,000 recipients are set to benefit from the increased monthly welfare assistance for people in the vulnerable group following an additional allotment of RM700 million, taking the total allocation to RM2.2 billion.

Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said the allowance for non-working people with disabilities (OKU) would be increased from RM250 to RM300 a month.

"Assistance for senior citizens as well as OKU and chronic patients will be raised from RM350 to RM500,” he said during the tabling of Budget 2021 at the Dewan Rakyat today.

He said the allowance for OKU workers would also be increased from RM400 to RM450.

He added that the assistance for children from poor families would be increased from RM100 to RM150 per child between the age of seven and 18 years with a maximum of RM450 per family or RM200 for a child aged six and below per family with a maximum of RM1,000 per family.

Tengku Zafrul hoped the increased rate of assistance would help in terms of child care and nutrition.

"For example, if Puan Safiah has three children, with two of them aged six and below, and her OKU-husband is working, her family will get an assistance of RM1,000 a month,” he explained.

-- BERNAMA