Finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said the present Act has certain provisions that restrict KWAN from providing financial aid in procuring vaccines for the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Section 6 of the KWAN Act only allows KWAN funds to be used for development purposes.

“Therefore, it needs to be amended to provide an alternative financing source to buy vaccines,” he said.

Tengku Zafrul added that using KWAN funds would not increase the statutory debt level of the country as it was not considered a form of borrowing.

The bill was passed on voice vote after the second and third readings.

In April, when the nation was still under the Emergency, Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia would be taking RM5 billion from KWAN to buy Covid-19 vaccines.

An emergency ordinance was enacted allowing Putrajaya to withdraw funds from KWAN, from which the government had made only one withdrawal since 1988.

Today, Tengku Zafrul told the Dewan Rakyat that some RM3.3 billion of the RM5 billion had been spent on vaccines. Around RM15 billion is left in KWAN, he added.

He also said the government would work to replenish the KWAN funds once the economy fully recovers, adding this would be done by increasing the number of contributors to the trust fund.