Take more from KWAN to help M40, B40 groups, says Najib

Take more from KWAN to help M40, B40 groups, says Najib

Former prime minister makes a pledge that Barisan Nasional will replenish the National Trust Fund in the future.

Najib Razak also asks if the RM100 for singles and RM500 for B40 households is sufficient.
PETALING JAYA:
Former prime minister Najib Razak has urged the government to take another RM4.2 billion from the National Trust Fund (KWAN) to assist the (bottom 40) B40 and (middle 40) M40 groups during the total lockdown.

In a Facebook post, he assured that Barisan Nasional would replenish the funds in the future.

Najib also questioned if the current allocation of RM100 each for single Malaysians and RM500 for each B40 household with at least three children was sufficient.

“On top of that, this assistance comes after they have faced MCO 2.0 and MCO 3.0/3.1 for five months, and now the total lockdown,” he said.

Najib noted that the payments would only come in by the end of June, while the additional RM500 for the Prihatin Special Grant (GKP) recipients was due in July.

He added that GKP recipients should also be eligible for Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat, as they had the additional burden of bearing the losses faced by their businesses.

Najib said the Perikatan Nasional administration could dip into KWAN again if it wished to avoid borrowing more money, since it had already borrowed over RM100 billion for BPR aid within the first five months of the year.

With the additional funds from KWAN, Najib said, more could be handed out under the Bantuan Prihatin aid scheme.

“The RM300 to RM500 will become RM900 to RM1,500 for B40 families. RM100 for singles will become RM300.

“This amount is more significant for the B40 group in facing a total lockdown for one and a half months.”

Last night, the Pekan MP had also taken a jab at the government over the lack of financial assistance for the M40 group.

The government previously took RM5 billion from KWAN for the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines, which included the RM3 billion for vaccine purchase first announced in the 2021 budget.

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