The Bantuan Keluarga Malaysia (BKM) outlined in Budget 2022 will benefit over 9.6 million recipients with an allocation of RM8.2 billion to help households of B40 and M50 groups affected by the pandemic.
The government has announced another direct cash aid scheme for Malaysian households dubbed the BKM scheme, previously known as Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat (BPR).
Budget 2022 to focus on ‘3M’ of recovery, building resilience, and stimulating growth post-pandemic.
The government’s second “M” target, or resilience-building approach, aims to strengthen the B40 group, which has since exploded, with nearly 600,000 people from the M40 group falling into the bottom rung.
Out of 9.6 million recipients, four million are households with one or two children with an income of less than RM2,500. They will receive RM1,500 and childless households will receive RM1,000 in aid.
Households with three children or more with income less than RM2,500 will receive RM2,000 in aid, which is increasing compared to the previous BPR which is RM1800.
An extra RM500 for single mothers raising their children with no fixed income, the government will also give the aid to single mothers/fathers with dependents and monthly income of up to RM5,000.
For senior citizens, an extra RM300 will be given, this means single mothers/fathers with three children and above are entitled to a maximum of RM2,500 in aid.
For households whose income starts from RM2,501 and not exceeding RM5,000 allocated for 800,000 recipients will receive RM 400 (childless household), RM 600 (one or two children families), and RM 800 (three and above families), respectively.
Meanwhile, one million bachelor senior citizens will be given an extra RM300 and RM 350 for single people. In total, 4.8 million bachelors will receive BKM aids.
Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz also announced an RM25 million allocation to the Yayasan Keluarga Malaysia to address the issue of children orphaned by the pandemic.
Other than BKM, through the PerantiSiswa initiative, 600,000 undergraduates from B40 families get one tablet each involving allocation of RM450 million.
Iffah Salleh contributed to the article
