GEORGE TOWN, Feb 5 — Penang Zakat (ZPP) collected RM130,857,642.07 involving Property Zakat and Zakat Fitrah last year, said Penang Islamic Religious Council president Datuk Ahmad Zakiyuddin Abdul Rahman.
He said during the same period, ZPP distributed RM126.5 million compared to RM112.4 million in 2019, an increase of 12.5 per cent.
“Last year, the Zakat Harta collection performance recorded RM125,297,037.26 which is an increase of 7.6 per cent compared to 2019 which recorded a total of RM116,364,840.21. A total of 70,677 people have paid the zakat (in 2020) compared to 67,149 in 2019.
“Meanwhile, for the collection of Zakat Fitrah, RM5,560,586.81 was collected in 2020 compared to RM5,066,361 in 2019,” he said in a statement yesterday.
He said the number of zakat recipients last year was 41,690 people compared to 31,821 recipients in 2020, an increase of 31 per cent involving seven categories of asnaf (Muslim have-nots) including the hardcore poor, poor, and tithe collectors and converts.
Ahmad Zakiyuddin, who is also the Penang Deputy Chief Minister 1, said ZPP was also the earliest zakat institution to help the Muslim community affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and RM15.9 million in special assistance has been distributed to 27,532 recipients.
“The special assistance was given from March 22 to December 31 last year to small traders/hawkers, e-hailing drivers/ daily wage workers, among others,” he said.
He said ZPP has nine branches throughout the state including a mobile van to make it easier for the public to pay zakat and his team also runs a monthly zakat deduction scheme which has been re-imposed as a sakinah scheme.
“Overall, ZPP has distributed 96.8 per cent of the total zakat collection last year compared to around 91 per cent in 2019,” he said.
— Bernama
