KUALA LUMPUR: The Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong) has proposed the government to further boost the allocation for the Special Relief Facility (SRF), from the existing RM5 billion to RM10 billion.
It also hoped that the government could further reduce the SRF financing rate from 3.5% currently to less than 3%.
Huazong president Tan Sri T.C Goh said this is so that more small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) who are adversely affected by the ongoing Movement Control Order (MCO), could continue to stay afloat and to prevent a potential massive unemployment in the country.
He proposed this while welcoming the government’s announcement of interest-free micro loan scheme under the latest special stimulus package worth RM10bil aimed at helping the SMEs to mitigate the impact of the MCO.
He also proposed the government to waive the 2% interest rate for the Micro/i Kredit Prihatin scheme, which is being provided through the Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN), and to further increase its existing allocation from RM700 million to RM1 billion, so that more SMEs could benefit from it.
Similarly, the 4% interest rate for the small business loans (Program Pembiayaan Usahawan Perusahaan Kecil Komuniti Cina) for the Chinese community via BSN, too should be further reduced or waived completely. After all, the amount allowed under such loan scheme is only between RM10,000 to RM50,000 maximum.
In a response issued on Monday, Goh acknowledged that one of the key issues facing the SMEs was financing and cash-flow. He thus hoped that the government could provide more low-interest or zero-interest funds to assist those who are adversely affected by the devastating impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the MCO, so that they could sail through the storm.
On the latest ‘wage subsidy scheme’ rolled out by the government, he said while it was acceptable for the government to provide such subsidy to companies basing on the number of employees in the payroll, with the highest wage subsidy fixed at RM1,200, he nonetheless hoped the government could also take into consideration of those employees earning RM4,000 and above and to provide them with necessary assistance. Otherwise, they may become the target for retrenchment in the company’s restructuring move to cut losses.
He further opined that the government should strive to assist all those employers who are affected, and not only those whose business had dropped by 50% since January 2020. This was in view of the fact that a majority of the businesses were affected by the MCO as, they were mandated to cease operations during this period of time, hence inevitably incurring huge loss.
“The other problem is that, even with all these aids and subsidies given to the employers, there’s still this major concern of what if the pandemic worsen and the companies fail to recover within the next six months and continue to incur losses and had no choice but to lay off workers?” he asked.
Besides this, Goh also opined that the government should further reduce the foreign worker levy to 50% instead of just 25%, in order to better assist the SMEs.
He nonetheless welcomed the government announcement of a special grant of RM3,000 to each company, which is expected to benefit nearly 700,000 micro SMEs nationwide.
These SMEs must register with the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) to enjoy this facility. The government will obtain a list of eligible SMEs from the Local Authorities and Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM).-pr/BNN
