Muhyiddin (centre) chairs the first meeting of the Economic Action Council (EAC) at the Prime Minister’s Office. — Bernama photo
PUTRAJAYA: Financial assistance of RM600 per month for up to six months will be given to workers who have to take unpaid leave due to the Covid-19 outbreak, said Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
The prime minister said those eligible for the aid are workers who were served with the no-pay leave notice beginning March 1, 2020.
“Those eligible are contributors to the Employees Insurance System (EIS) with a monthly salary not exceeding RM4,000. This move will involve an allocation of RM120 million. A total of 33,000 workers are targeted to benefit from this aid,” he told a news conference after chairing the first meeting of the Economic Action Council (EAC) at the Prime Minister’s Office here yesterday.
Muhyiddin also announced electricity tariff discounts for the commercial, industrial and agricultural sectors as well as domestic users.
“In the Economic Stimulus Package (PRE2020) (announced) on Feb 27, 2020, business categories affected by Covid-19 especially the tourism sector will receive a 15 per cent discount on electricity consumption for a six-month period from April 1 to Sept 30, 2020,” he added.
The prime minister said in view that the spread of Covid-19 has had a wider impact, the government has decided to offer a two per cent discount to all other consumers in the commercial, industrial and agricultural sectors as well as domestic users from April 1 to Sept 30, 2020.
Muhyiddin said the giving of this two per cent discount is expected to involve an estimated allocation of RM500 million.
“This discount will benefit more than 10 million households and commercial, industrial and agricultural users,” he said.
Meanwhile, Muhyiddin said payment of the RM200 Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) aid to all recipients was made yesterday, instead of in May 2020 as originally announced under the PRE2020 on Feb 27. He said the payment totalling RM760 million would benefit 3.8 million households who are recipients of BSH.
“An additional payment of RM100 as announced in the PRE2020 will be made in May 2020. This additional payment in May involving RM500 million will benefit five million recipients of BSH,” he added. — Bernama