PUTRAJAYA should provide monthly cash aid to low-income families who are struggling to stay afloat during the pandemic to prevent them from sliding deeper into poverty, said Anwar Ibrahim.

The PKR president said more and more people are living below the poverty line during the pandemic.

“What’s needed is direct cash injection of RM1,500 to households that are suffering so they can buy food and feed their kids.

“So many people are falling below the poverty line that it’s no more B40 but B60 now,” Anwar said in a virtual press conference on Facebook.

Anwar defined those in the B60 group as people who lacked large savings in their Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) accounts that can act as safety nets should their household income be severely impacted.

The Port Dickson lawmaker said as long as the lockdown was in effect, one-off aid will not be sufficient but a direct cash injection for the period of the lockdown will help people get by.

He added that the aid packages that the government had announced thus far have not been sufficient.

Putrajaya had so far announced stimulus packages worth a total of RM530 billion since the start of the pandemic.

Earlier this week Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced the RM150 billion Pemulih economic aid package.

Key highlights of the Pemulih package are a six-month loan moratorium for all, a wage subsidy for employers, withdrawal of up to RM5,000 from the Employees’ Provident Fund under the i-Citra scheme, and additional aid to small and medium enterprises and those in the tourism, sports and creative arts sectors.

Anwar said studies have also shown that people who make less than RM4,000 a month have seen a 20% drop in their salaries during the lockdown.

“We found that at least 15 million people, or five million households have been affected by the pandemic. This represents 50% of the population, 85% of whom are Malays and Bumiputeras,” he said.

Anwar said allowing people to withdraw from their retirement savings will only delay the inevitable as most people only have about RM10,000 saved in their EPF accounts.

EPF CEO Amir Hamzah Azizan revealed last week that 42% of the total membership had less than RM10,000 saved in Account 1 while 9.3 million had less than RM10,000 in Account 2.

“Malaysia is the worst country in Asia in tackling the pandemic and this despite a lockdown in effect.”

In Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience Ranking for June, which was published yesterday, Malaysia was placed 51 out of 53 countries ranked for progress in reopening amid the Covid-19 pandemic. – June 30, 2021.