KUANTAN: Payment of the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) for 2018 will begin on Monday, says Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah.
He said about seven million people were eligible to receive the BR1M payment, involving a total sum of RM6.3 billion.
Mohd Irwan Serigar said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was scheduled to launch the first phase of the payment during a ceremony at the Sultan Ahmad Shah Convention Hall in Pekan today.
“The payment will be made in three stages.
“For example, for those who are eligible to receive RM1,200, we will pay RM400 first and the rest will be paid in the second and third phases,” he told reporters after attending the Bumiputera Entrepreneur Programme at the Sultan Ahmad Shah Convention Centre here yesterday.
Mord Irwan said BR1M is a programme which has been devised by the government to help those who are really in need.
He said the government was always looking into ways to improve on the disbursement of BR1M and to help boost the economic status of its recipients through various training and programmes.
“We hope to assist recipients through entrepreneurial training, providing business loan facilities and so forth as the government does not want them to remain at the same position forever. Changes must be made to ensure a better life for the future,” he said.
Hence, he said the opposition’s claims that the BR1M payouts were ‘candies’ distributed by the government ahead of the general election were defamatory as they had run out of issues.
“BR1M is given to the poor for them to pay for essential items and the increase in money circulation will indirectly spur domestic economy,” he told reporters.
The event yesterday was officiated by State Health, Human Resources and Special Functions Committee chairman Datuk Seri Norol Azali Sulaiman. — Bernama