MoF to expedite BPN Phase 2 payments from Jan 21

KUALA LUMPUR – The Ministry of Finance (MoF) will expedite Bantuan Prihatin Nasional Phase 2 (BPN 2.0) payments totalling RM2.38 billion to 11.06 million eligible recipients, who comprise 10.6 million BPN recipients and about 460,000 new recipients, reported Bernama.

Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said payments to the bottom 40% income group (B40) and M40 would be credited directly into their bank accounts starting from January 21 and January 25 respectively.

Those without bank accounts would be able to receive payments at Bank Simpanan Nasional branches from January 25 onwards subject to the bank’s standard operating procedure (SOP) guidelines, he said in a statement on Jnauary 13.

As for recipients in Sabah and Sarawak who do not have a bank account, he said payments would be made from early February to April 1 at locations to be announced at the end of this month.

Tengku Zafrul said 460,000 new recipients were approved during the application/appeal period from October 15 to November 15 last year.

Approvals can be checked starting from January 15 on the official BPN portal.

BPN 2.0 is part of the RM10 billion Prihatin Supplementary Initiative Package (Kita Prihatin) announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on September 23 last year.

Two payout phases have been set for distributing the BPN 2.0 assistance — in October 2020 and this month.

Tengku Zafrul said to date, RM7.18 billion had been paid or allocated to the 11.06 million BPN 2.0 recipients, comprising 5.82 million unmarried individuals and 5.24 million households.

“The government is always committed to ensuring the allocated assistance reaches those who are targeted in order to safeguard the people’s well-being,” he added.