More households to receive MUIS support fund to help cope with impact of COVID-19

1. On the 4^th of August 2020, MUIS announced an allocation of $1.6 million for the COVID-19 MUIS Support Fund (CMSF) to help ease the financial burden on households affected by the economic uncertainty resulting from the current pandemic. The support fund initially aimed to assist 4,000 households with each eligible household receiving a one-off assistance of $400. Due to an overwhelming response for the CMSF, MUIS will be extending the fund to an additional 1,500 households, bringing the total to 5,500 households and a disbursement of $2.22 million, an increase of $0.62 million from the initial allocation.

2. The application window for the CMSF was from 10 August to 31 August 2020, and MUIS received more than 7,000 applications. To ensure that the support from zakat reaches out to more people who are affected by the pandemic, MUIS has extended the CMSF from 4,000 to over 5,500 households, bringing the disbursement from an initial allocation of $1.6 million to $2.22 million.

3. This additional support is in recognition of the challenges that many households are facing due to the economic impact of Covid-19. MUIS hopes that the cash pay-out of $400 from zakat contributions from the community will help ease some of the financial burden of affected families. The pay-out will be directly credited to the successful applicants’ bank accounts by 18^th September 2020.

4. Applicants who applied for the CMSF and were not successful was mainly because they did not meet the eligibility requirements such as not being within the income criteria (i.e. they had a per-capita-income (PCI) of above $1,000), or they are current beneficiaries of Zakat Financial Assistance or ComCare Assistance, or having more than one approved application per household. For the unsuccessful applicants, MUIS encourages them to explore the range of national and community assistance schemes that are available.

5. MUIS, together with the Social Development (SD) Lead mosques and our M³ partners, will continue to reach out to vulnerable segments in the Muslim community in the challenging months ahead. We are also continuing to build up the capabilities of our mosques and Social Development officers to better help families in need in the months ahead. 

Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura