The government has agreed to the Petronas board's decision to give a RM1,000 one-off payment to 40,000 of its staff, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He said the RM1,000 is a gesture of gratitude to all staff of the Petronas Group of Companies.

"The board and management of Petronas made a recommendation to me and I have agreed to the one-off payment of RM1,000 to all staff of the Petronas Group of Companies," he told Petronas staff at a town hall meeting here today.

Najib also said that Petronas contributed RM1 billion to the National Trust Fund for last year.

"This fund was created in 1988 and is managed by Bank Negara Malaysia. Up to 2009, Petronas consistently contributed RM100 million annually to the fund," he added.

For 2010, he said, Petronas had contributed RM500 million and in 2011, the contribution was RM1 billion.

Meanwhile, at the same event, Najib announced that Petronas was donating RM1 million to the Police and Malaysian Armed Forces Welfare Fund.

He also announced that the Petronas board had decided to donate RM20,000 to the families of each of the fallen heroes of Lahad Datu.-- Bernama