M Update 24/1/2019 – The first phase of the Cost of Living Aid (BSH) 2019 amounting to RM300 for eligible households will be carried out on Jan 28.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the assistance will be given to about 4.1 million households involving an allocation of RM1.2 billion.
He said payment will be made directly into the bank accounts of the recipients.
Lim said the government had to use the old database to enable payments to be made before February 2019, although there was a high chance that the list included names of those who were not eligible.
According to him, the process to remove the names of ineligible recipients, namely those not in the bottom 40 per cent household income group (B40) will take a long time.
Once the database has been updated, he said, the balance of BSH payments will be channelled under phase two and three using the new method as announced in Budget 2019.
“The updating process needs to be implemented for BSH 2019 payments in second and third phases in line with the improved BSH programme which is more targeted, and is based on the size of the household,” he said.
Lim said the new criteria and method of payment will be announced soon.
Sources : New Straits Times
