The Government has enhanced the Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (SARA) programme to provide targeted subsidy assistance to the rakyat most affected by the living cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This programme, which will be implemented in stages from 22 January 2024, aims to uplift the country\u2019s most economically vulnerable population and holds true to the principle of equitability that serves as the foundation for the Ekonomi MADANI framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Malaysian economy\u2019s transformation begins with lifting our most vulnerable up. The improvements to the SARA programme is the first step in bridging inequality and building an inclusive society as envisioned in the Ekonomi MADANI framework,\u201d said Prime Minister and Finance Minister Dato\u2019 Seri Anwar Ibrahim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Improvements to SARA in 2024 include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Expanding SARA\u2019s qualified recipients to the poor and hardcore poor compared to the hardcore poor only last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Increasing the assistance to households to RM1,200 from RM600 in 2023. The assistance to single individuals remains at RM600; and<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Taking into account recipients\u2019 feedback, items valid for purchase with SARA programme\u2019s credit are expanded from only basic food and foodstuffs to three new categories, namely personal care items, medicines, and school supplies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With these improvements, the 2024 edition of SARA programme is expected to benefit over 700,000 recipients in the poor and hardcore poor categories with an allocation of RM700 million, compared to last year\u2019s recipient of 210,000 inviduals with an expenditure of RM130 million1. This translates to an increase in allocation by over five times from the preceding year. Under this programme, eligible recipients are able to purchase selected essential items by using MyKAD at participating retailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The eligibility criteria for SARA is based on a database of poor or hardcore poor by e Kasih, a referral database for Ministries and Government agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SARA will be credited to recipients in Peninsular Malaysia beginning 22 January 2024 (Monday), while recipients in Sabah, Sarawak, and the Federal Territory of Labuan will begin receiving their SARA cash assistance from 19 February 2024 (Monday) onwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For SARA programme\u2019s recipients in Peninsular Malaysia, the assistance will be credited every month throughout the year at RM100 for households and senior citizens without a spouse, and RM50 for single individuals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For recipients in Sabah, Sarawak, and the Federal Territory of Labuan, the payment will be transferred in two instalments of RM600 for households and senior citizens without a spouse, and RM300 for single individuals. The payments are scheduled on 19 February 2024 (Monday) and 12 August 2024 (Monday) to the recipient\u2019s bank account or handed out in cash at Bank Simpanan Nasional\u2019s (BSN) branches nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the encouraging response to the SARA programme last year, the Government has also expanded the network of participating retailers (supermarkets\/sundry shops) to 515 (as at 17 January 2024) from 424 (in 2023) across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Ministry of Finance wishes to advise SARA recipients to be wary of unverified links from irresponsible parties when looking for information on the SARA programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frequently asked questions (FAQ) and review of eligibility status for SARA are available only on STR\u2019s Official Portal at https:\/\/bantuantunai.hasil.gov.my<\/a> from\u00a0 4:00PM, 19 January 2024, while further details on SARA\u2019s implementation\u00a0 mechanism can be found at https:\/\/www.mykasih.com.my<\/a> on 22 January 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Government has enhanced the Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (SARA) programme to provide targeted subsidy assistance to the rakyat most affected<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-coverage"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/editorv3.mykasih.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/editorv3.mykasih.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/editorv3.mykasih.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/editorv3.mykasih.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/editorv3.mykasih.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/editorv3.mykasih.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/editorv3.mykasih.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/editorv3.mykasih.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/editorv3.mykasih.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}