In a news report by Bernama, Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said the wage subsidy programme, implemented by the government as part of its efforts to combat the impact of the Covid-19 on on the country’s economy. has saved 2.4 million job.
“Although Malaysia’s unemployment rate is expected to increase in the coming months, measures under the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package are aimed at reducing the unemployment rate,” Bernama quoted him.
Moreover, RM4.89 billion had been approved for 303,596 employers for the benefit of over 2.4 million workers compared with RM1.2 billion for 159,000 employers involving one million workers on April 19.
He further pointed out that nation’s unemployment rate rose to 5 percent in April due to the closure of various sectors of the economy during the movement control order (MCO) and conditional MCO (CMCO) period to contain Covid-19 in March and April.
He highlighted that with the wage subsidy programme expanded under Penjana, employers can apply for wage subsidies for their employees who are on unpaid leave.
Furthermore, during his LAKSANA report presentation, he also pointed out that between June 12 and 19, as much as RM40 million has been paid to 40,000 BPN recipients.
Additionally, 4.3 million applications involving RM2 billion have been approved under the i-Lestari programme.
As for the spike in the TNB electric bills, Tengku Zafrul has mentioned that the Prime Minister approved additional RM 942 million to tackle the problem at hand, and is set to benefit 7.66 million households.
The SME Soft Loans Funds managed by Bank Negara has also seen applications worth RM 8.2 billion approved and is expected to benefit over 19,000 Micro SMEs.
Under the BSN Micro Credit Scheme and TEKUN Nasional, 6,742 applications worth RM 236.4 million has been approved while under the later’s programme, 22,843 applications worth RM 174.63 million has been approved.
