Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that government retirees will also get RM250 in special cash aid. He said the initiative will cost the government about RM900 million.

The cash aid will be disbursed from next week. The first day of Aidilfitri is expected to fall on March 31.

In a statement, the finance ministry said the government decided to distribute the special aid given the expenditure celebrants would incur to prepare for the festive season.

It said the expansion of Putrajaya’s sources of revenue in restructuring its finances has given the Treasury “some room to share our revenue in a just manner”.

The ministry said the special aid will benefit more than two million civil servants and government retirees.

“The government hopes that this would lighten the financial burden of civil servants and retirees, while spurring them to continue serving with complete dedication,” it said.

It also said the payments for Phase 2 of the Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR) aid scheme has been brought forward. STR will be distributed to its nine million recipients from Monday.

A total of RM1.7 billion will be disbursed.