Stating that banks should take into account the recent rise in new Covid-19 cases, which is bound to impact the local economy and the rakyat’s income, Najib said banks should extend the moratorium until the end of the year.
He detailed the profits that nine local banks supposedly made from May to June this year.
“This is proof that banks can still afford to provide an extension to the moratorium,” he said on his Facebook account.
“If they don’t give an extension for all customers, provide it automatically for those in the B40 category and loans for PPR/PR1MA (People’s Housing Projects/PR1MA Corporation Malaysia) or homes costing below RM300,000.”
He also suggested that banks extend the moratorium for borrowers of car loans of RM50,000 and below and borrowers whose income have been affected since the movement control order (MCO) was implemented.
Najib said banks had the relevant information needed to check whether the borrowers’ income had been affected by the MCO, and it was up to the banks to decide whether to grant their borrowers an extension.
“Now is the time for banks to prove they care about their loyal customers,” said Najib.
Earlier today, the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) had made a similar call, stating that a three-month extension was needed due to the current spike in cases and the expected second wave of infections.
It said banks were rejecting applications of those who still had a job without realising that the whole family income had dropped due to cuts in salaries and loss in jobs.
Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim) has also suggested that the government negotiate an extension to the blanket loan moratorium to ease any potential economic setbacks in the event of another Covid-19 wave.
The health ministry reported a record 317 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, bringing the total number of Covid-19 infections in Malaysia to 12,088. The ministry expects the number of cases to stay high in the near future as more screening tests are done.
The government announced a three-month extension of the loan repayment moratorium on July 29 but this will only be available to targeted groups.
The six-month moratorium on loan repayments, which was meant to help Malaysians weather the impact of lost income during the MCO, ended on Sept 30.
On the same day, the Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) and Association of Islamic Banking and Financial Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM) said borrowers could discuss alternative repayment arrangements with their banks if repayment obligations became a challenge in the coming months.