According to the Ministry of Finance, the government had approved wage subsidy applications worth over RM15.7 billion under the various wage subsidy programmes. Under Wage Subsidy Programme 1.0 (PSU 1.0) up to Sept 3, 2021, a total of RM12.936 billion had been approved, benefitting 322,177 employers and 2.64 million workers, according to its Minster Tengku Zafrul.
For PSU 2.0, up to Sept 3, 2021, a total of RM1.373 billion had been distributed to 79,703 employers as a form of aid for them to continue employing 701,161 workers in their premises. Under PSU 3.0 up to Aug 29, 2021, a sum of RM1.051 billion had been distributed to 70,676 employers, helping to keep the jobs of 697,872 workers.
The minister further added “for PSU 4.0, a total of RM382.37 million had been distributed to 58,988 employers, helping them to sustain operations and keeping 637,107 jobs up to Aug 29, 2021,”.
Clearly the Wage Subsidy Programme has been well received by the business sector, however with the pandemic still at bay and reactions by the authorities to shut down or restrict could occur anytime when cases surge, enterprises are in a precarious position.
The sector is now way out of the woods, much assistance is still required and jobs continue to being lost due to lost of revenue and foreclosures on businesses.
Micro enterprises and SME’s are reeling from the effects of lockdowns, they are just slowly starting to reopen-despite the positive mood business is no longer as usual, sales of yesteryear is uncertain. When BusinessToday spoke to some of the owners, they quipped on the WSP and how they managed to retain their staffs even though they experienced zero sales some months.
Prime Minister Dato Sri Ismail Sabri’s government has an opportunity to reset the economy for 2022, the key formula is to get the economy humming again. No stones must be unturned in this effort, Budget 2022 has been hinted to be the largest in Malaysia’s history but it should be used efficiently and for the right segment. Ministries have a civic duty that expenditure should benefit the people and not certain pockets, dubious requests must be openly questioned and forwarded to MACC.
The pandemic was a steep learning curve for all government agents including the Ministers, if they have not learnt anything from devastating event in the past 2 years, we Malaysians are in deep trouble. Policies that showed positive results can be fine tuned and continue its implementation, at least we are confident the economy is robust and vibrant again. The WSP and Moratorium could have possibly been the 2 programmes that shielded Malaysia from a more severe economic calamity.
In this aspect, we hope the Finance Minister will look closely at these policies and propose to the cabinet when he tables Budget 2022 to the parliament in October. Although the community does not expect a blanket handout, there are segments of the industry that are already waving the white flag, save these business in turn they can save many more livelihoods.
