PUTRAJAYA JAN.18: The government has announced the aid package “Economic protection and the people of Malaysia” or PERMAI worth RM15 billion today to help the people cope with COVID-19 pandemic.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said, under PERMAI, 22 initiatives based on three objectives will be implemented and it includes fighting against COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining the welfare of the people and supporting the continuity of businesses.
Muhyiddin said, in the Budget 2021 the government has announced that one off RM500 will be given to all health front liners and RM300 to all other front liners and the payment will be made in the first quarter of the year.
“The RM600 that has been paid to the health front liners and RM300 to other front liners will continue to be paid until the COVID-19 ends,” he said in special deliberation on TV1 today.
In another development, Muhyiddin said, the private hospitals have agreed to accept and treat all patients including the COVID-19 cases to reduce the pressure in the public health systems The government has allocated RM100 million to achieve this purpose.
To encourage more individuals to go for screening tests to detect COVID-19, the tax exemption for the full medical check up that had been raised from RM500 to RM1, 000 as announced in the Budget 2021 will be widened to the payment of the COVID-19 detection.
Muhyiddin also said that the government will make the last payment of the “Bantuan Prihatin Nasional or BPN 2.0 on 21st Jan.2021 that will benefit 11.1 million recipients from the allocation of RM 2.38 billion.
The first phase of the Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat or BPR will affect eight million recipients. The household that earns an income of RM5, 000 per month will receive RM300 while the people in the single category with a monthly income of RM2, 000 will receive RM250.
The government appreciates the contribution of the delivery riders that become the support group in delivering products and food during the Movement Control period and in relation to that the government has allocated RM24 million to bear the full contribution under the Social Security Self-Employed Scheme SOCSO.
Until today, 32,000 applications from the delivery riders have been received under the protection scheme.
Muhyiddin said, the financial aid of RM1, 000 through the Additional Special Prihatin Grant or Additional GKP that will be given to the traders and business people in Sabah as announced in Budget 2021 is now extended to 500,000 SMEs in seven states under Movement Control Order (MCO) while 300,000 SMEs in other states will receive RM500.
“The extension of the Additional GKP or GKP PERMAI had affected an additional provision of RM650 million. However, if any state undergoes changes from red zone to the imposition of MCO, the government is ready to help by channelling additional aids to the SMEs in the related states,” said the prime minister.
In order to lessen the burden of the taxi and bus drivers, the government has agreed to allocate one-off financial aid worth RM500 to 14,000 tourist guides. 118,000 taxis, school buses, tourist buses, hired cars and e-hailing, and the government’s allocation is RM66 million.
To encourage and support the entrepreneurs and business groups to generate income via online or e-dagang platform, the government will speed up the implementation of e-Dagang SMEs and Micro SMEs and Shop Malaysia Online campaigns with the allocation of RM300 million.
Meanwhile six business sectors including hotels, theme parks, convention centres, shopping complexes, local flight companies and travel agencies and tourism will enjoy a special electricity bill discount of 10 percent from January until March 2021.
On the other hand, all electricity users, domestic and non-domestic will be given a rebate of 2 cents for every kilowatt per hour that is equivalent to the reduction of electricity bill until 9 percent for the period of six months starting from 1st January until 30th June 2021.
Regarding the states that had been hit by the floods, the government had earlier allocated RM200 million besides RM50 million had been channelled to the National Disaster Relief Trust Fund under the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) for the operational expenses during the north-east monsoon season.
“I have given directives to the related government agency to speed up the aids to recover the infrastructure that had been destroyed in a small scale, the flood victims’ houses, and to help lessen the burden of the people involved in the floods recently,” Muhyiddin reiterated.- Malaysia World News
