KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 9 — A total of six million Malaysians have successfully claimed their RM30 incentive from the federal government in the latter’s push for more digital payments through e-wallet under the e-Tunai Rakyat programme, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said.
Lim noted that the government had approved these six million applicants as of February 5, 2020, which meant that RM180 million has been disbursed so far under the e-Tunai Rakyat programme.
The government had previously allocated RM450 million for the programme that aims to give out the RM30 incentive to 15 million qualified applicants, with a requirement for the RM30 e-credit —- received via the three e-wallet platforms Boost, Grab or Touch ‘n Go — to be spent during the period from January 15 to March 14.
“We hope to attract 15 million Malaysians of the age of more than 18 years old and having an income of less than RM100,000 a year,” he said in an extract of his speech on February 6 in a Putrajaya event that was made available to the media today.
“Although the government has announced RM30 for each person, but with the addition or additional value-added offers by private operator companies, actually e-Tunai Rakyat recipients receive at least RM60 for shopping. This amount will certainly be multiplied and be able to contribute to total purchases and also economic growth,” he added.
Lim also highlighted the importance of having more Malaysians join digital platforms, including shoppers and traders, hawkers and businesses, noting that an additional 16,182 traders and businesses have registered for such platforms.
Lim had last month said that most of e-Tunai recipients used the RM30 incentive to pay for groceries, telecommunications, transport and food expenses.
Over RM10 million was claimed by 320,000 approved e-Tunai Rakyat applicants on the first day the programme was launched, while the total tally within 48 hours of the programme’s launch was 672,000 applicants being approved to claim RM18.8 million.
