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Malaysia: More than 20 million benefit
KUALA LUMPUR: The government has approved RM1.193bil to 73,815 employers to continue operations and retain 642,123 workers under the Wage Subsidy Programme 2.0 (PSU 2.0) as of May 21,2021.
In the 55th Laksana report, Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz also said a total of 7,497 applications had been approved under the Penjana SME (small and medium enterprises) financing programme with a total loan value of RM1.403bil as of May 21.
“The government allocation of RM2bil under this programme emphasises SMEs that have never received bank loans before this, ” he said.
Meanwhile, the economic stimulus packages announced in 2020 have benefitted over 20 million citizens and 2.4 million businesses and as of May 21, nearly RM200bil have been channeled.
“There are still many programmes that are ongoing and to be implemented, which will involve over RM100bil in spending till end-2021, ” he said.
Under Budget 2021, from the approved allocation of RM322.5bil, a total of RM117.5bil have been spent as of April 2021.
“This means another RM205bil is to be spent under Budget 2021, ” he said.
Among the programmes to benefit citizens are welfare aid where the allocation has been raised to RM2.2bil for 2021 (from RM1.5bil in 2020) to vulnerable groups such as abandoned senior citizens, poor families and disabled people.
Other programmes include the Jendela Initiative with a RM500mil allocation which also involves fibre connectivity for schools, and a Micro Credit Fund of nearly RM1bil.
Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2021/06/04/more-than-20-million-benefit