KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 17 — Putrajaya will introduce a new economic recovery programme dubbed Pemerkasa (Strategic Programmes to Empower the People and Economy) worth RM20 billion.
Pemerkasa consists of 20 initiatives and the government will provide a fiscal injection of RM11 billion for the scheme.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin made the announcement today during a national address and said that priority will be given to the National Immunisation Plan, which will see its allocation increased from RM3 billion to RM5 billion.
“We want to speed up the immunisation programme and as such have increased its allocation to RM5 billion with the hopes of getting more Malaysians vaccinated as fast as possible,” said Muhyiddin.
“As such we will also extend the RM200 per month allowances to the frontliners who are stationed at the 950 national vaccination centres nationwide.”
Another RM2.5 billion will be channelled to help small projects at grassroots level, bringing the total amount to RM5 billion for 2021.
Muhyiddin said the government is aiming to help small contractors (G1 to G4) with contracts such as repairing infrastructure and public facilities, renovating strata homes including fixing broken lifts in public housing areas as well as building shops for local communities.
Adding to that, the government has also agreed to extend the Special Prihatin Grant (GKP 3.0) to give business the opportunity to reopen.
All small medium enterprises will be allowed to apply for a one-off RM1,000 payment from April 1.
Besides that, another RM500 million has been added to the previous RM1 billion for micro creditors. Muhyiddin said these programmes will be conducted by Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN), Tekun Nasional, Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) and Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Corp.
“RM300 million has been allocated to BSN with a limit of RM50,000 and an interest rate of 3.5 per cent only payable after six months with the loan time of five years.
“Tekun Nasional has RM60 million mainly for the Informal Financing Scheme where RM5,000 will be provided for home, small business, pasar malam and pasar tamu.
“Through Mara, 1,000 micro Bumiputra businesses will be able to continue operations. They are allocated as much as RM50,000 with an interest rate of only 3 per cent. Besides that, the SME Corp will provide RM50 million in financing for local businesses with a limit of RM250,000 at an interest rate of 3 per cent as well,” said Muhyiddin.
Another RM700 million will be provided under the Wage Subsidy Programme 3.0 for individuals affected in the tourism, wholesale and for those whose businesses have faced closure during the pandemic.
