RM86 bln from COVID-19 fund allocation has been utilised as of August 2022

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of RM86 billion or 78.2 per cent of the RM110 billion COVID-19 Fund ceiling has been utilised as of August 2022.

The COVID-19 Fund allocation for 2022 is revised from RM23 billion to RM28.8 billion to finance electricity subsidies of RM5.8 billion following the government's decision to maintain the Imbalance Cost Pass-Through (ICPT) rate," said the Ministry of Finance (MoF) in its 2023 Fiscal Outlook and Federal Government Revenue Estimates report released today.

According to the report, RM10.2 billion has been utilised mainly for Bantuan Keluarga Malaysia (BKM) until August 2022.

The government has allocated as much as RM3.7 billion to ease the burden of the people and the programme has benefitted 8.6 million recipients from the lower income group.

"In addition, RM1.9 billion was disbursed for the Wage Subsidy Programme, sustaining about 685,000 workers and RM1.1 billion for social support assistance to vulnerable groups," it said.

The government has also disbursed RM1.1 billion for COVID-19 related expenses to enhance health equipment and bedding capacity in hospitals' intensive care units as well as to procure, among others, test kits, reagents, medicines and sanitisers.

-- BERNAMA