PUTRAJAYA, May 31 — The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government will maintain the previous administration’s payout rate and recipient categories, under its rebranded Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH), formerly known as 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M).

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said that the second payout of BSH 2018 will be made on June 6, just before Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations.

"For the time being, we will maintain as it is.

"If there are any amendments or changes, that will be evaluated for the next payment.

"We will maintain what is already there. We will not tweak it.

"Any tweaking will only be done in the future,” Lim said when questioned during a press conference today.

He said that BSH payments will be credited directly to its recipients’ bank accounts, and for those without an account, a letter of approval will be mailed directly to them, and they can collect the cash from any Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) branch.

Lim said that "only those who are qualified” will be receiving the assistance.

The government will be allocating RM1.6 billion in BSH payments, which will benefit 4.1 million people.

In April this year, the then-Barisan Nasional (BN) administration approved a total of RM6.12 billion worth of cash aid under the federal government’s annual BR1M scheme, for seven million Malaysian households.

The Finance Ministry said that 7,084,726 applications for this year’s BR1M handout had been approved as of March 31.

These seven million-odd households are divided into three categories, including RM1,200 cash aid to 3,705,853, or over 3.7 million households with a monthly income of RM3,000 and below. This group takes up the biggest chunk with a total of over RM4.4 billion.

Those approved to receive a total of RM900 cash aid each are 324,973 households earning between RM3,001 to RM4,000 per month, while RM450 in aid will be given to 3,053,900, or just over three million individuals earning less than RM2,000 each month.

The group receiving the RM900 cash aid takes up around RM292.48 million of the RM6.12 billion allocation, while the category eligible for the RM450 aid accounts for the remaining RM1.37 billion.