KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 — Putrajaya has announced another direct cash aid scheme for Malaysian households dubbed new Bantuan Keluarga Malaysia (BKM) scheme.

Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said families with up to three children will get RM2,000, while single parents or households earning below RM5,000 monthly will get RM500.

Childless families will get RM1,000 while those with two children are eligible for RM1,500.

"An additional RM300 will be given to the elderly as well,” said Tengku Zafrul when tabling Budge 2022 today.

"This means any single parent with three kids or more will get as much as RM2,500. This scheme is expected to help 9.6 million households with an allocation of RM8.2 billion.”

The Social Welfare Department (JKM) will also get an allocation of RM200 million to help the needy.

Tengku Zafrul said JKM will provide new guidelines to allow those earning less than RM1,169 monthly to qualify for aid.

"This was to take into consideration the rising costs of essential goods.

"In total RM2.4 billion has been allocated to help around 440,000 households,” he added.

In tackling the issue of children orphaned due to Covid-19, Tengku Zafrul said an allocation of RM25 million was made to the Yayasan Keluarga Malaysia.

This will be for education, security and safety of the children.

"The government asks everyone including the corporate sector to participate in this endeavour for the future of the children,” he added.

Budget 2022 is the biggest budget to date, with a RM332.1 billion allocation.