The government today announced an Aidilfitri special payment of RM500 each for the more than 1.24 million civil servants and 590,000 government pensioners.

The payment will be made before the festival, which is likely to fall on Sept 10.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said in a statement the payment was for civil servants in Grades 1 to 54 as well as the government pensioners.

"The decision (to make the payment) was made after taking into account the welfare of civil servants and government pensioners, especially with a view to easing the cost of making preparations to celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri," said Najib, who is also the finance minister.

According to Bernama , the payment would incur a total cost of RM934.6 million, that is RM639.6 million for the payment to the civil servants and RM295 million for the pensioners, he said.

A similar payment of RM500 by the federal government was made last year, but it was split into two payments - in September before the first day of Aidifitri and in December. 

The move by the federal government comes hot on the heels of similar bonuses announced by the Penang government . Penang decided on Aug 18 to pay its 3,577 civil servants RM400.