SELANGOR, Johor and Sarawak have the highest number of Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (BPN) applicants, said the Finance Ministry today.

“As at July 3, Selangor has the highest number of BPN applicants at 1.615 million (16%) while Johor has 1.226 million (12%).

“The next highest was Sarawak with 950,767 applicants (10%),” said ministry in a written reply in Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

In contrast, the lowest number of applicants came from three of the smallest states – Negri Sembilan (4%), Malacca (3%) and Perlis (1%).

The ministry was replying to Saifuddin Nasution Ismail’s (Kulim Bandar Baru-PH) question on the total number of BPN applicants and the breakdown according to states.

“As of July 3, the government has approved RM10.9 billion to be paid out to 10.3 million BPN applicants.”

The ministry said the highest number of applicants came from the B40 income group – 3.3 million households and 3.9 million individuals.

“In the M40 group, there were 3.1 million applicants – 1.4 million households and 1.7 million individuals.”

BPN is one of the incentives announced by Perikatan Nasional to alleviate the financial strain on Malaysians following the three-month movement control order that started on March 18. – July 16, 2020.