IPOH, July 16 — Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Perak affected by the Covid-19 outbreak can apply for the Perak SME Prihatin Grant (GERUP) via online starting today, said State Rural Development, Entrepreneur Development, Cooperatives and Consumer Affairs Committee chairman Datuk Saarani Mohamad.

Saarani said, entrepreneurs could apply for the one-off financial aid of RM3,000 until July 30 at gerup.smecorp.gov.my.

He said among the expenses covered by the aid include marketing and raw material expenses, workers’ wages, business premise rental as well as the purchase of equipment.

"SMEs receiving this aid will then be monitored and guided by entrepreneurship agencies in Perak to ensure continued capacity building,” he told reporters at a media conference after launching the Perak SME Prihatin Grant (GERUP) at the Entrepreneurs Development Centre of the Perak State Development Corporation (PKNP) here, today.

He added that entrepreneurs could also seek assistance from the 24 agencies appointed by the state government to apply of which includes SME Corporation Malaysia, State Economic Planning Unit, Yayasan Perak, Perak State Department of Agriculture, Majlis Amanah Rakyat, Tekun Nasional and PKNP.

He said to apply, the SMEs must be registered with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) and have been operating before January 1 with an annual total sales of less than RM3000,000 or hiring less than five workers and have never received the Special Prihatin Grant from the federal government. — Bernama