At a press conference here, Rafizi said his team is using the first quarter of the year to process data obtained from the government’s central database hub, or Padu, which was launched on Jan 2 with the aim of ensuring the efficient delivery of targeted subsidies.

Rafizi said a memorandum on the mechanism for targeted subsidies will be presented at next Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting.

“If a decision on the mechanism is made next week, we can already implement it (targeted subsidies) in the second quarter,” he said at a media briefing at the statistics department.

Rafizi previously explained that the government set March 31 as the registration deadline so targeted subsidies can be rolled out as soon as possible.

He said that as of 4pm today, more than 1.6 million people have registered with Padu.

He said the ministry will continue to promote Padu across the country to get as many people to register before the March 31 deadline.

At the federal level, Rafizi said, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has already instructed all civil servants to register as soon as possible.

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