KUALA LUMPUR: The Economy Ministry will hold discussions with all local authorities (PBT) to speed up the implementation of Inisiatif Pendapatan Rakyat (IPR) throughout the country.
Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli (pix) said the government will work closely with the state government and PBT in identifying and nominating target groups who are eligible and meet the criteria set for IPR participation.
“To ensure that the participants who apply are eligible, a cross-check will be made with the eKasih data system, which is the existing list of hardcore poor recipients, as well as the Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR) recipient data.
“Later I will have a meeting with all PBT leaders across the country so that we can speed up this matter (implementation of IPR) to get down to the lower level,” he said during the Minister's Question Time session in Parliament today.
He was replying to a question from R. Yuneswaran (PH-Segamat) who asked how the IPR can help B40 households and the hardcore poor to generate regular income and the ministry's efforts to ensure that 100,000 target groups are involved.
According to Rafizi, applications to participate in the IPR received by the ministry up to today were about 24,000 after over a week from its launch.
“The number is increasing day by day, while the target according to official government statistics is 130,000 people from hardcore poor families.
“We will also extend the IPR offer to not just the hardcore poor, but also to help participants from the B40 group,“ he added. -Bernama
