KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 7 — A total of RM14.58 billion or 42 per cent out of RM35 billion allocated under the National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana) has been disbursed as at Nov 20, 2020.

Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said according to the thrust breakdown under the plan, RM7.15 billion or 54 per cent of the total RM13.2 billion under the first core thrust had been spent and benefitted a total of 1.36 million recipients.

"For the second core thrust aimed at boosting business, a total of RM5.54 billion or 38 per cent of RM14.7 billion had been spent, benefitting more than 40,000 businesses.

"For the third thrust, aimed at stimulating the economy, a total of RM1.9 billion or 27 per cent of RM7.1 billion had been spent which had benefited around 11.36 million recipients," he said in a written reply in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Tengku Zafrul was responding to a question from Datuk Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid (PH-Kapar) who asked to state the actual amount spent through the Penjana programme and the number of recipients under the initiative.

Abdullah Sani also wanted to know if the government intended to increase the total allocation provided for the Penjana programme due to the lingering impacts caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Tengku Zafrul said Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had announced a special additional initiative framework, KitaPrihatin, worth RM10 billion on September 23, which is a continuation of the Prihatin and Penjana initiatives to ease the burden of the people, maintain employment and help businesses.

"This additional initiative is channelled through the Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (BPN 2.0) mechanism totalling RM7 billion, the Wage Subsidy Programme 2.0 of RM2.4 billion and the Prihatin 2.0 Special Grant (GKP 2.0) of RM600 million.

"The continuation of the earlier initiatives will help the people and traders who are still affected during the recovery phase," he said.

During the tabling of Budget 2021 on Nov 6, the Ministry of Finance also announced various additional initiatives to help the people, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and micro-enterprises, as well as the economic sector. — Bernama