Malaysia urged to extend COVID-19 subsidy till year-end

The government has been asked to extend the wage subsidy programme throughout all phases of MCO and [Conditional] MCO, or at least till December.
By: | June 3, 2021
Topics: Compensation and Benefits | Health and Wellness | Malaysia | News

Malaysia’s Small and Enterprises Association (Samenta) has urged the government to consider extending its wage subsidy programme till the end of the year, or throughout all phases of its Movement Control Order (MCO).

“We remain hopeful that the government will consider our proposal to extend the wage subsidy programme throughout all phases of MCO and [Conditional] MCO, or to the end of 2021 at the least, as wages remain one of the largest costs for SMEs,” said Samenta.

It added that it welcomed the roll out of the latest subsidy programme, called Pemerkasa Plus, specifically the extension of wage subsidies for affected sectors, the one-off grant for SMEs, and the loan moratorium for select businesses. 

“Samenta calls on the government to engage and mobilise the machinery of the state governments and private sectors in speeding up the vaccination programme, as soon as possible,” it said.

“We hope the government will agree to prioritise the economic sector for vaccination including allowing SMEs to organise themselves for this purpose,” said Samenta Chairman William Ng.

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