Malaysia doles out additional RM$500 aid to small businesses
- Claire Lee
The Malaysian government will be giving out an additional RM$500 (US$119) to SMEs and micro-enterprises in phases, said the Ministry of Finance.
The payout will be on top of the RM$1,000 (US$238) assistance which was credited to the companies’ bank accounts in mid-June this year, said Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz in a statement.
“The payment which involves a financial implication of almost RM$500 million (US$119 million) will be credited directly to their accounts,” he said.
“Subsequently, under the National People’s Well-Being and Economic Recovery Package (Pemulih) announced on June 28, 2021, additional payment for (Prihatin Special Grant) GKP 4.0 of RM$500 will be channelled to existing and new recipients in September and November 2021 respectively,” he added.
The country has so far channelled RM$6.08 billion (US$1.44 billion) to over one million micro-SMEs under the GKP since the onslaught of the pandemic, the minister said.
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“Besides GKP, there are many more initiatives that micro SMEs can use for the long-term planning of their respective business recovery.”
“This includes [a] soft loan fund for micro SMEs totalling RM$2.9 billion (US$0.69 billion) through Bank Simpanan Nasional, Agrobank, MARA, SME Corp, Malaysian Islamic Economic Development Foundation (YaPEIM) and National Entrepreneur Group Economic Fund (Tekun)”.
