PUTRAJAYA, Jan 5 — The Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (SARA) and Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR) assistance programmes will be credited in stages beginning this month, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today.

The early credit transfers form part of the government’s early 2026 cost-of-living support measures, which Anwar announced at the Prime Minister’s Department New Year assembly here.

SARA assistance would be credited as early as February 9, while the first phase of STR payments would begin on January 9.

“Last year SARA was used by 96 per cent of the population, reaching RM2.1 billion,” Anwar said.

“Some said even the rich took it. But some of the rich took it to give it to the poor. I don’t believe a minister would use it for his or her own use. Still, the sum unused was around RM150 million,” he added.

Anwar said the RM100 one-off SARA disbursement was timed to coincide with the Lunar New Year celebrations.

All Malaysian citizens qualify for the programme, although the indiscriminate aid has drawn criticism from some development economists, who said it would have been better to raise assistance slightly for low-income households only.

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) said in a statement issued shortly after Anwar’s announcement that the RM150 million in unused SARA allocations would be redistributed to low-income households.

Meanwhile, RM1.1 billion for the first phase of STR 2026 will be disbursed beginning January 20. MOF said the programme would benefit three million families and 1.3 million elderly people.