KUCHING: Some RM10 million has been allocated for Sarawak to implement the 1Azam programme for low income households (LIH) next year.
Minister of Welfare, Community Well Being, Women, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah said the federal government had allocated the amount for Sarawak because of its good performance in the implementation of the LIH programme this year, and seeing that the state still has a significant number of hardcore poor.
“With the allocation, we hope to help 1,633 new heads of households (KIR) that are registered with e-Kasih next year,” she told reporters after chairing the Poverty Eradication Focus Group meeting at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here yesterday.
On another note, Fatimah said the number of hardcore poor in the state has dropped by 26.8 per cent as of this month.
She said the number of hardcore poor in the state as of Nov 15 this year is 20,665 compared to 28,213 last November.
Although the number of poor in the state increased from 36,919 to 39,385, Fatimah noted that the number of hardcore poor and poor decreased from 65,132 to 60,050.
“The reason for the increase in the number of poor was due to the increase in the number of KIR going out from the hardcore poor category and the increase in the number of our reach-out programme.
Hardcore poor are those with income below RM660 while RM990 and below are considered poor.