The government has extended the period for the appeal of Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat (BPR) beginning 15 until 30 June for those whose application were not approved.
Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz

By Manzaidi Mohd Amin

KUALA LUMPUR – The government has extended the period for the appeal of Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat (BPR) beginning 15 until 30 June for those whose application were not approved.

Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said, applicants may submit their appeal by attaching relevant documents to be checked by the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).

He said, the government has introduced Addition BPR amounting to RM2.1 billion to help the existing BPR 2021 recipients as announced by the Prime Minister in the Special Announcement on the Additional Strategic Programme to Empower the People and Economy (PEMERKASA+) on 31 May.

According to him, applicants with approved BPR are also eligible to receive the Additional BPR.

Appeals can be made online through BPR IRB official website, https://bpr.hasil.gov.my or via physical BPR 2021 appeal form and send it manually to the Pusat Khidmat Hasil (PKH), IRB in Urban Transformation Centres (UTC) or their nearest IRB on appointment basis only.

“After the database is updated, the payment for the successful BPR appellant will be made in August for the Additional BPR and September 2021 for BPR Phase 3.

“For this year, BPR aid amounting to RM4.6 billion have been channelled to 8.4 million B40 recipients nationwide in February, March and May. The Addditional BPR of RM2.1 billion will be channelled in August while the Phase 3 payment amounting to RM2.4 billion will be made in September.

“The total amount of cash aid is RM9.1 billion and the government remains committed to ensure that the aid will reach the target group to ensure the welfare of the people, especially those who are affected by the implementation of Movement Control Order (MCO) 3.0,” he said in the Economic Stimulus Implementation and Coordination Unit Between National Agencies (LAKSANA) report.

According to Tengku Zafrul, the government will continue to implement various thorough and targeted measures to face the challenging pandemic situation to help the people and businesses.

He said, this include, to reduce the impact of commodity price hike in the global stage towards the cost of living of the people.

He emphasized, fuel and cooking oil subsidies will remain following the sudden surge of international commodity prices that affected petroleum products such as RON95, diesel and LPG, including cooking oil.

“The government is expected to subsidise up to RM8 billion as the RM3.78 billion approved in Budget 2021 is not sufficient based on the current global market value for these essential items,” he said.

As a proof of the government’s commitment to control the prices of those essential items, the government has maintained the retail prices of those items through subsidies.

Various initiatives under Budget 2021 and upgraded initiatives through PERMAI, PEMERKASA and PEMERKASA+ will continue to be channelled at least until December.

Part of the ongoing initiatives include BPR RM9.1 billion, Prihatin 3.0 Special Grant (RM1.5 billion), special aid for bus / taxi / e-hailing drivers (RM191 million), electricity bill discount for the six most affected sectors (RM270 million) and the wages subsidy programme 3.0 (RM5.2 billion).

Tengku Zafrul added, cashless payment for all government services will be implemented by 2022 as an effort to create safer transactions, better coordination, improve communication, eliminating corruption and facilitate information sharing.

“This target is expected to be reached as by last year end, 60 percent of the government’s collection were done through the e-payment channel.

“This trend is also depicted through the distribution of cashless aid, where the application and payment for BPR and Special Prihatin Grant (GKP) were done electronically and online,” he said. –MalaysiaGazette

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