Muhyiddin said he had attended a roundtable discussion with the Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia (DPMM) where its members, especially owners of MSMEs, voiced concerns over cash flow problems.

“I’m afraid that if no drastic steps are taken by Putrajaya in Budget 2023, more MSMEs would close down. What’s even worse is that more Malaysians might be losing their jobs and sources of income.

“Don’t wait for things to get worse. Do something immediately,” Muhyiddin urged the government in a Facebook post.

The Perikatan Nasional chairman said the woes of MSME owners had been highlighted by the National Recovery Council (MPN) which he chairs. He had also called for a special loan moratorium for this category of business owners.

Muhyiddin said the MSMEs’ cash flow problems had worsened due to the third increase in the overnight policy rate by Bank Negara Malaysia and the rising prices of goods.

With 53% of the 950,000 SMEs registered in the country owned by Bumiputeras, he said, Putrajaya should take immediate action to help these entrepreneurs.

Previously, Putrajaya said it would study Muhyiddin’s proposal for a loan moratorium for MSMEs.

However, the Bersatu president’s proposal was criticised by the Small and Medium Enterprises Association Malaysia (Samenta), which said another loan moratorium would only exacerbate the SMEs’ problems.

Samenta chairman William Ng told FMT that resolving the labour crunch should be the top priority as this was the main issue faced by the SMEs.