KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 ― Johor Baru MP Akmal Nasir urged the government today to consider extending the loan repayment moratorium.
Akmal, who is also PKR Youth chief, said many youths have loan commitments and would not be able to repay these at the moment, which would worsen the country’s non-performing loan (NPL) ratio.
“When the finance minister gave the reason that the government will not extend the moratorium as banks were suffering loss, it is not true.
“Banks will only suffer loss, if the loans have been converted into NPL.
“At the moment our country's NPL rate is at 1.57 per cent, and this is low,” he told reporters during a press conference at the Parliament building today.
Akmal was responding to Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz who yesterday said Malaysia’s banks were suffering an estimated loss of RM1.06 billion monthly, owing to the six-month loan moratorium period.
Tengku Zafrul told Parliament that collectively, banks will suffer an estimated loss of RM6.4 billion until the moratorium ends.
Last week, Tengku Zafrul said that borrowers must begin servicing their loans from October as the repayment moratorium will end as scheduled in September.
Akmal however cited the economy that has yet to bounce back for many Malaysians and at the same time the country is anticipating a rise in Covid-19 cases.
The financial moratorium was enforced earlier in April in light of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.
