The minister, Tengku Zafrul Aziz, said payments to the B40 and M40 groups would be credited directly into their bank accounts starting on Jan 21 and Jan 25, respectively.

Those without bank accounts would be able to receive payments at Bank Simpanan Nasional branches from Jan 25, subject to the bank’s standard operating procedures, he said in a statement today.

As for recipients in Sabah and Sarawak who do not have bank accounts, he said payments would be made from early February to April 1 at locations to be announced at the end of this month.

Tengku Zafrul said the 460,000 new recipients were approved during the application/appeal period from Oct 15 to Nov 15 last year.

Approvals can be checked starting Jan 15 at the official BPN portal, https://bpn.hasil.gov.my.

BPN 2.0 is part of the RM10 billion PRIHATIN Supplementary Initiative Package (KITA PRIHATIN) announced by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Sept 23 last year.

Two payout phases have been set for distributing the BPN 2.0 assistance – in October 2020 and this month.

Tengku Zafrul said to date, RM7.18 billion had been paid or allocated to the 11.06 million BPN 2.0 recipients, comprising 5.82 million unmarried individuals and 5.24 million households.

“The government is always committed to ensuring the allocated assistance reaches those who are targeted to safeguard the people’s well-being,” he added.