45,000 BSH recepients eligible for PSP don't have bank accounts

About 45,000 of 2.9 million recipients of the Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) who are eligible for fuel subsidy under the Petrol Subsidy Programme (PSP) do not have bank accounts through which they could obtain the aid.

To this end, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said his ministry would hold discussions with local banks to assist the recipients in opening accounts.

"The ministry would discuss with the local banks on whether they could assist in opening zero balance accounts for them.

“They only need a bank account number [...] would be good if we can get the banks’ cooperation,” he told Bernama News Channel yesterday.

Saifuddin Nasution said the bank’s cooperation would facilitate disbursement of the aid, which would be credited into the recipients’ accounts every four months. The first payment for January to April would be disbursed in April 2020.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng while tabling Budget 2020 at Dewan Rakyat on Oct 11 said the PSP would begin in 2020 and launched in the peninsula based on two categories of eligibility.

The first category is for BSH (B40) recipients with cars, who would receive fuel subsidy of RM30 per month, and for those with motorcycles, RM12 per month.

As for the second category, recipients (M40) are eligible for Kad95 which entitles them to a subsidy of 30 sen per litre with a 100 litres per month limit, and 40 litres for motorcycles.

On the issue of Communications and Multimedia former minister Salleh Said Keruak’s application to join PKR, Saifuddin said the party was still in discussions with its political bureau.

- Bernama