Goodies galore! that’s the feedback from the public on the country’s 2020 Budget announcement by Pakatah Harapan Government. Many are viewing the Budget as people friendly and structured to boost the economy domestically.
Bulk of the benefits are driven towards the B40 and M40 segments with incentives, one-of payments and special grants. To encourage digital adoption and egg the people towards more electronic form of payments, the Government via Bank Negara accepted the use eWallet by handing out licenses to more than 30 organisations. The result of that witnessed the growth of home grown wallets Boost, AliPay partnered Touch N Go Digital, WeChat, RazerPay, GrabPay and a slew of others. With the introduction, there has been more than 5 million downloads with over 100,000 merchants already accepting eWallets as payment. However, the Government still thinks its a far cry from the target BNM was anticipating.
To get more traction the new Pakatan Harapan Government has allocated RM450 million to get Malaysians on board the eWallet train this year. Those aged 18 years and above and earning RM100,000 and below a year will be entitled to a one-off payment of RM30 that can be claimed from January 1 to February 29 next year. While this is seen as a positive move to encourage active digital transaction and cut down on paper money, the implementation of the policy needs to be closely monitored RinggitPlus CEO Hann Liew advises the Government to limit the incentive to e-wallets that disallow a cash-out facility, as otherwise, it would reduce the effectiveness of this measure.
The RM30 is viewed as incentives for youths who have many reasons to spend that cash to-up on. One student from UKM Bangi was thrilled with the announcement and said will use the money to purchase prepaid card that could last him a month. Another said a one day meal at the canteen will be a nice treat. Whatever the value, free money always puts a smile on people, like the Ang Pau one receives during Chinese New Year, its the thought and gesture that is appreciated not how much is inside. Thank you Uncle Lim!
