Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim revealed in Parliament yesterday that e-Tunai Belia Rahmah, the government’s e-wallet initiative targeted towards the youth, will be distributed “before the third week of this month”. Given that next week is the third week of June, this means that the credit could start rolling out as early as the end of this week.
The Finance Ministry’s e-Tunai Belia Rahmah webpage was also updated, stating that those eligible for the programme will be able to claim the RM200 credit by the end of June 2023. Despite the credit coming very soon, the government has yet to announce the list of eligible e-wallets.
That being said, the list should be somewhat similar to what we saw in previous youth e-wallet credit rollouts. For last year’s ePemula, the Finance Ministry chose BigPay, GrabPay, ShopeePay, and Touch n’ Go as the official e-wallets for distribution, although methods for spending the credit were heavily restricted.
The initiative was revealed earlier this year during Belanjawan 2023, which allocates a total of RM400 million for disbursement, initially targeted at Malaysian youths aged between 18 and 20. However, it was then expanded to include all active full-time university students regardless of age, similar to the original e-wallet programme announced for the previous administration’s 2023 budget.
If you’re over the age of 20 but are a full-time student in one of the following programmes at institutions of higher learning, then you will be eligible to claim e-Tunai Belia Rahmah:
- Community Colleges
- Polytechnic
- Public University(UA) /Public Institution of Higher Education (IPTA)
- Private Institution of Higher Education (IPTS)
- Students of education institutions equivalent to Form 6
- Senior Middle 3
- Higher Religious Certificate (STAM)
- Vocational College DIploma
- Diploma and equivalent of TVET
- Foundation Studies / A-Level Foundation
- International Baccalaureate Diploma
- Australian Matriculation (AUSMAT) Diploma
- Advanced Diploma
- Bachelor and equivalent
- Masters and equivalent
- Doctor of Philosophy and equivalent
- Professional courses at diploma level and above, recognised by the
- Government or Professional Bodies in Malaysia
While we don’t know any of the details yet, we can expect to hear about the specific conditions of the credit soon. It will be interesting to see whether or not the government will once again restrict the use of the e-wallet credit to only physical store purchases.
(Source: Bernama)
