M40 households can appeal for aid reassessment after job loss

KUALA LUMPUR: Middle-income households whose members have lost their jobs can appeal for a reassessment of their eligibility for targeted government assistance, said Deputy Finance Minister Liew Chin Tong.

"Every aid recipient can submit an appeal if their existing circumstances have changed, and they can do so at any time," he said in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Liew was responding to a supplementary question from Datuk Adnan Abu Hassan (BN-Kuala Pilah), who asked how the government would ensure M40 households facing unemployment or reduced incomes were not excluded from assistance because their previous earnings exceeded eligibility thresholds.

He asked whether the government had a mechanism to reassess affected households' eligibility based on current financial circumstances rather than relying on historical income records.

Liew said the government was committed to keeping the unemployment rate below four per cent.

"The unemployment rate has consistently remained, or been maintained, below four per cent. This reflects the government's commitment," he said.

In an earlier response, Liew outlined several measures under the 2027 Budget to ease the cost-of-living burden on middle-income households.

These included increasing individual tax relief from RM9,000 to RM12,000, reducing income tax rates for selected taxable income brackets and expanding tax relief to cover additional expenses.

The government had also introduced cash assistance and measures to ease household expenses, including electricity subsidies and Rahmah Madani sales programmes.

Liew said the government wanted to ensure that the middle-income group continued to benefit from its initiatives.

Separately, he said the government had data on the M40 group, adding that its long-term aspiration was to expand the middle-income segment until it became larger than the B40 group.