KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 — The government will be providing additional help to businesses in Malaysia, including grants and subsidies as well as aid for the future when the country moves to phase two and phase three of the national recovery plan, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today.

In the government’s latest economic package known as Pemulih (recovery) unveiled today, the prime minister listed various aid that will be given to support businesses to ensure their survival during the first phase and second phase of the National Recovery Plan, as most of them are not allowed to operate during the two phases.

Malaysia is currently under the first phase, where only businesses providing essential services and essential goods are allowed to operate.

The special grants or Geran Khas Prihatin (GKP) to micro-businesses would be further expanded under Pemulih, with Muhyiddin announcing today that the government has agreed to give out additional payments under GKP 4.0 to eligible recipients with RM500 to be paid in September and another RM500 payout in November.

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This is on top of GKP 3.0 payouts of RM1,000 about two weeks ago and a further RM500 in mid-July, with an overall RM5.1 billion allocated for GKP so far.

“The government hopes that with this GKP 4.0 aid, about one million micro small and medium enterprises especially operators of hairdressers, workshop owners, bakeries and cake shops, health centres, and others are able to reduce their monthly commitments and help in their cash flow, God willing. What is important, micro entrepreneurs who have yet to ever receive this aid, registrations will be open from mid-July,” he said in a speech broadcast live this evening.

Muhyiddin said the government has already spent over RM15 billion for the Wage Subsidy Programme to help employers subsidise 2.7 million employees’ pay, adding that the government has now agreed to implement WSP 4.0 with a RM3.8 billion allocation to subsidise an expected 2.5 million workers.

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“Through the WSP 4.0 initiative, the government will subsidise up to 500 workers for each employer at the rate of RM600 per worker for four months, namely two months for each sector in phase two of the national recovery plan, and the subsequent two months especially for sectors categorised in the negative list during the third phase,” he said, adding that the wage subsidy under WSP 4.0 would no longer be limited to those earning below RM4,000 and employers can apply for the subsidy for workers earning more than RM4,000.

Malaysia has not set any timeframe to move to phase two and phase three of the national recovery plan, as it will be based on targeted indicators to be achieved. Phase two will see more businesses being allowed to operate, while all businesses will be allowed to operate in phase three except for high-risk sectors in the negative list such as pubs, nightclubs, spas, pedicure and manicure services.

Here are the other forms of assistance to be given, as announced by the prime minister today:

  • Human Resource Development Corporation (HRD Corp) levy two-month exemption to be given automatically to companies that are allowed to operate during the movement control order. Extension of levy exemption until December 31 for employees that are newly included in the expanded Human Resources Development Fund Act 2001. Total initiative cost: RM425 million.
  • RM3,000 Bantuan Khas Taska aid to be given to 4,400 taska or childcare centre operators under the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry and over 8,000 private kindergarten operators under the Education Ministry, with hopes to aid sanitisation and disinfection needs.
  • RM1,000 aid to all registered school canteen operators, as school canteens still closed.
  • RM3,000 one-off aid to sports industry operators and sports arena operators such as gyms, bowling, futsal, as they can only operate from phase three onwards.
  • RM3,000 one-off aid to 5,300 registered tour agencies to kickstart business when country moves to third phase. Government agreed to defer monthly instalments on income tax on companies and exempt hotel operators from tourism tax and service tax until end of 2021.
  • Three-month extension of 10 per cent discount on electricity bill from October to December for affected economic sectors, especially hotel operators, theme parks, convention centres, shopping malls, local tour companies and adventure and tourism agencies.
  • RM30 million allocation for RM500 aid for three months for 20,000 disabled persons who have lost their jobs or are unemployed and who are not existing recipients of allowances for disabled employees.
  • Jaringan Inisiatif Umum (Jitu) programme to be carried out with RM20 million allocation for basic business capital and to guide the disabled and homeless to do business, expected to benefit over 40,000 individuals.
  • Will allocate RM100 million to help over 8,000 arts practitioners and support local arts and creative industry, including incentives for works and digital content creation, job opportunities, skill upgrading programmes, contributions to the Social Security Organisation (Socso), and procurement of products for television and radio productions and songwriting.
  • Allowing government contractors to make variation of price for obvious increase in construction cost materials until December 31, allowing local G1 to G4 government contractors to carry out small-scale projects through voting and quotations, allowing extension of works projects and contract period extension for supplies and services contracts affected by the movement control order but subject to contract clauses.
  • MARA entrepreneurs can apply for three-month MARA business loan repayments’ deferment or for rescheduling of payments by extending loan period up to 36 months.
  • MARA to extend 30 per cent rental discount for MARA premises for five more months until December, over 5,700 tenants to benefit.
  • Increase of government guarantees ceiling from the initial RM36.5 billion to the new limit of RM56.5 billion to support SMEs. As of June 24, RM33.4 billion in government guarantees already given for loans by over 45,000 companies.
  • Addition of RM2 billion by Bank Negara Malaysia for financial aid to SMEs, which increases available funds for new applicants to RM8.6 billion.
  • Microcredit scheme expansion with AgroBank, Bank Simpanan Nasional pumpingin RM500 million each and Tekun scheme preparing RM100 million, which means RM3 billion microcredit funds now available this year for micro entrepreneurs.
  • RM20 million allocation to help cooperatives, including for marketing products online and encouraging purchases at cooperatives’ stores.
  • RM300 million allocation under programme for digital empowerment of micro entrepreneurs. To continue the Shop Malaysia Online campaign and Go eCommerce Onboarding targeting 300,000 micro entrepreneurs to shift to online business and to using e-cash systems, to increase RM100 million allocation for SME Digitalisation Grant with up to RM5,000 matching grants for system purchase or digital platform subscription by SMEs, to encourage micro and SMEs to join e-commerce platforms, to empower agriculture entrepreneurs to use the latest technology and shift to new technology platforms.
  • To extend Socso’s financial incentive programme PenjanaKerjaya for employers who provide new job opportunities, which has so far seen RM170 million benefiting 10,600 employers and 75,800 workers. Penjana Kerjaya scheduled to end in June, but will be extended and rebranded as PenjanaKerjaya 3.0 with improvements including reducing the threshold of wages from RM1,500 to RM1,200 for the Malaysianisation programme to encourage employers to replace foreign workers with local workers, and to also relax the employment contract period from 12 months to six months for workers who are aged 50 and above, disabled or former convicts.