VARIOUS assistance whether direct or in the form of funding or grants provided by the government to the tune of over RM24 bil have benefited over 1.4 million micro and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as of Nov 27, said Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz.
Some SMEs and micro-SMEs have received more than one assistance offered by the government, depending on qualification, he said in the 32nd Laksana report on the implementation of the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package (Prihatin), National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana) and Kita Prihatin Economic Stimulus Package (Kita Prihatin), released today.
Tengku Zafrul said among the assistance and benefits included the SME Soft Loans Funds under Bank Negara Malaysia worth RM11.13 bil for 23,700 SMEs, the Wage Subsidy Programme worth RM9.89 bil that has supported about 300,000 SMEs and micro-SMEs, as well as 1.85 million workers, and the Prihatin Special Grant 1.0 and 2.0 worth RM2.55 bil for over 850,000 micro-SMEs.
Other initiatives include the Penjana e-commerce initiatives under Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, including Shop Malaysia Online and the Micro and SME e-Commerce Campaign that has assisted over 21,000 micro and SME entrepreneurs that have generated sales of over RM1.2 billion from an allocation of RM140 mil. – Dec 9, 2020
