He said this reflected a 99% usage rate, with a total of RM4.59 billion spent.

“As for the one‑off SARA appreciation payment to over 22 million adult Malaysians, more than 20 million people have spent the funds, or 92% of all recipients, with spending exceeding RM1.91 billion,” Bernama reported him as saying in the Dewan Negara today.

Amir Hamzah was responding to Senator Hasbie Muda regarding the ministry’s long‑term measures to ensure the implementation of targeted subsidies without technical issues involving the use or misuse of MyKads.

He said the capacity of the payment system had been significantly improved to handle the surge in transactions following the rollout of the one-off SARA aid and the monthly Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah cash aid initiative.

“Currently, the system can handle 7,000 transactions per minute compared with 2,700 transactions per minute previously. It will reach 10,000 transactions per minute once the system is upgraded at the end of 2025.

“At present, the average number of transactions per minute is 1,000,” he said.

Amir Hamzah also said while any remaining monthly SARA credit could not be carried over to the next year, the government does not expect this to cause any issues since the usage level has exceeded 90%.