During the Budget tabling in October, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that the RM100 SARA cash aid of 2026 will be distributed in the middle of February. It looks like the schedule has been moved up a little. Recent reports cite the Prime Minister as saying that it will be distributed specifically starting 9 February.
Bernama cites Anwar as saying that this is “to help with preparations for Ramadan and the Chinese New Year”. For context, the latter falls on 17 February, and the first day of Ramadan starts two days later. The report says that this detail was shared when Anwar was addressing the Prime Minister’s Department earlier today. The Ministry of Finance also released a statement echoing the message.
As before, all you need to be qualified for this is to be a Malaysian aged 18 or more. Though the statement does not mention when this RM100 SARA cash handout will expire. Instead, it mentions that of the RM2.1 billion allocated for this initiative, about RM150 million was not spent, with that amount being channelled elsewhere “to ensure the welfare of vulnerable groups”.
On that note, the statement mentions 10,000 small traders being involved nationwide by the end of 2026. To compare, the number at the end of last year was 3,000.
