RM566.6 mln for Bantuan Prihatin Elektrik as at July 31

A total of RM566.6 million was allocated for Bantuan Prihatin Elektrik (BPE) as at July 31, with RM364.5 million utilised by 7.66 million individuals and another RM202.1 million by 1.44 million electricity consumers in the business sector, said Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz.

BPE is an additional assistance provided by the government together with Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) in the form of free electricity consumption of up to 300 kilowatt-hours (kWh) for a period of three months throughout the Movement Control Order (MCO) period.

"In addition, domestic customers who use 601-900 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per month would enjoy a 10 per cent discount from April to September 2020, which is an additional eight per cent on top of the existing two per cent discount rate that they are currently enjoying."

According to the statement, Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) recipients who have received approval but the payment could not be credited into their bank accounts, could now claim the cash at any BSN branch until Dec 31, and those who wish to appeal for BSH 2020 could do so from Aug 7 until Sept 6.

Under PENJANA, as at July 31, a total of 204,325 My30 unlimited travel passes had been sold, an increase from 179,349, with the government subsidy for these passes so far worth RM34.7 million, an increase from RM30.5 million.

Meanwhile, for the Hiring Incentive Programme and Training Assistance, 9,884 employees (an increase from 7,543) have been employed, since the commencement of the registration on June 15.

This number includes 7,100 employees under the age of 40, 1,500 aged 40-60, 84 disabled persons (OKU) and 1,200 apprentices.

On the Social Assistance for Easily Affected Groups, the one-off assistance of RM300 has been paid to 185,713 recipients involving a total payment of RM55.7 million.

There have been a total of 1,815 recipients of aid amounting to RM544,500 under the Home Help Services while 1,350 registered single mothers received aid totalling RM405,000.

Meanwhile, 1,785 nurseries have been reviewed and approved with a total allocation of RM8.3 million for incentives to encourage childcare centres to adopt new norms and gain recognition for adopting these norms at their premises.

Under the initiative, one-off grants of up to RM5,000 were given to nursery and kindergarten operators registered under the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development and the Ministry of Education.

In the statement, Tengku Zafrul also said that to increase the marketability of youths and the unemployed, the government in collaboration with several ministries and agencies would implement training and skills-upgrading programmes for these two groups.

The programmes launched are estimated to benefit almost 200,000 youths and the unemployed, with some of the initiatives having started and are under the management of HRDF, including the development of small and medium enterprises and Gerak Insan Cemerlang (GIC).

-- BERNAMA