M’sians start receiving aid under stimulus package

Malaysians from all walks of life began receiving the various assistance and initiatives under the Economic Stimulus Package announced by the government to ease the burden of those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Apart from the RM20bil package announced on Feb 27, the people also benefitted from assistance under the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package (Prihatin) announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin recently.

Both packages, totalling RM250bil, are intended to protect the people, support businesses and strengthen the economy in the face of Covid-19.

The following are some of the aid and initiatives under Prihatin that took effect yesterday:

1. Special allowance of RM600 for health and medical personnel;

2. Special allowance of RM200 for members of the armed forces, police, Customs, Immigration, Fire and Rescue Department, Civil Defence Force and the People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela);

3. Deferment of loan repayments to the Skills Development Fund Corporation for six months;

4. 15% discount on the electricity bill for the tourism sector and 2% for the commercial, industrial, agricultural and household sectors in Peninsular Malaysia;

5. Discounts for electricity consumption, whereby the government and Tenaga Nasional Bhd will allocate another RM530mil to provide discounts of between 15% and 50% based on consumption of up to a maximum of 600kWh per month;

6. 1GB of free high-speed data daily for all postpaid and prepaid customers of Celcom, Digi, Maxis and U Mobile during the enforcement of the movement control order;

7. A one-off payment of RM600 for taxi drivers;

8. Deferment of income tax instalment payments for three months for small and medium enterprises (SMEs);

9. Deferment of income tax instalments for six months for businesses in the tourism sector; and

10. Moratorium on loan repayments to Tekun, Mara, cooperatives and other government agencies for SMEs. — Bernama