KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 — The government will reopen applications for the Prihatin Special Grant (GKP) from October 1 to 31, 2020, with an allocation of about RM600 million.

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the reopening of this initiative for new applications was expected to benefit more than 200,000 micro businesses.

"During my visits and interaction with entrepreneurs at the grassroots level, I received complaints that some entrepreneurs did not receive the assistance as they were not able to apply within the stipulated time

"There were also those who did not meet the requirement of having a registered business prior to Jan 1, 2020,” he said when announcing the PRIHATIN Supplementary Initiative Package (Kita Prihatin) today.

In addition, the government has also agreed to open GKP applications to micro-traders registered or holding a business licence with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) or local authorities until August 31, 2020.

He said payments were targeted to be made starting November 25.

Muhyiddin said under the Additional Prihatin SME Economic Stimulus Package (Prihatin SME Plus), the government provided the GKP to ease micro entrepreneurs’ financial burden due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Applications for GKP were opened on May 1 until May 15, 2020, with an assistance amount of RM3,000 per micro entrepreneur benefiting 545,000 petty traders nationwide.

He added that for this purpose, the government had disbursed a total RM1.63 billion. — Bernama