LANGKAWI: The Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (SARA) aid not only assists eligible recipients in dealing with rising living costs but also contributes to the growth of the local economy, said Finance Minister II Senator Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan.
He said the targeted aid programme had encouraged many sundry shops and mini-supermarkets to register as designated shopping locations for aid recipients.
“If we look at last year, when we started the SARA programme, we had 700,000 recipients. What we did was identify where the recipients were and register shops, including supermarkets and sundry shops.
“This year, we have added 1,700 shops nationwide as we expanded the SARA system by using identity cards, extending it to recipients in Sabah and Sarawak,” he told reporters after visiting a supermarket to observe SARA recipients purchasing daily essentials.
Amir Hamzah said that starting this April, 4.7 million recipients of the Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR) would also receive SARA aid, bringing the total number of SARA recipients to 5.4 million from the current 700,000.
He added that many SARA recipients had expressed their gratitude for the assistance provided by the government.
Amir Hamzah said that apart from SARA, some recipients also received STR aid, which provided them with greater financial ease, particularly in preparing for their children’s schooling.
He said that as of Feb 13, more than RM66 million had been spent by SARA recipients at registered shops.
