According to Bernama, a sum of RM420.8 million has been approved to be channelled through the Micro-Credit Financing under the Short-term Economic Recovery Plan (PENJANA) to advance 12,651 micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as of April 2.
Finance Minister Zafrul Abdul Aziz said most applicants are coming from the retail and services sectors.
According to him, as of April 2, the total amount approved by local banks and accepted by SMEs for SME soft loans funds were RM11.87 billion, benefiting 25,289 SMEs.
Under the PENJANA for tourism sector, there were 636 applications for this financing aid. From this amount, 315 applications were approved with total financing of RM62.9 million.
Meanwhile, 308 out of 626 applications were approved with total financing of RM 61.9 million on the previous week.
“The record of the application for tourism fund is not very encouraging at this time because the tourism industry hasn’t fully function yet and the players are still recovering,” Tengku Zafrul said.
“It is hoped through the vaccination rolling out, the targeted herd immunity can be achieved as early as December 2021, thus becoming a catalyst for economic recovery, especially for the country’s tourism industry,” he added.
As of April 2, the fund has been dispensed to 749 SMEs which entail a total of RM226.8 million.
Additionally, Putrajaya has also allocated assistance to support technical and digital consumption for SMEs and middle-tier companies (MTC) with RM59.3 million has been channeled to 13,857 businesses in the form of grants and loans for subscription to digitalisation services.
