Finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said among the facilities under which the funds were disbursed are the Special Relief Facility, Automation and Digitalisation Facility (ADF), and the All-Economic Sector Facility (AES).
In order to help Bumiputera entrepreneurs, he said the government has through Perbadanan Usahawan Malaysia Bhd offered Bumiputera Relief Fund assistance amounting to RM200 million for the SMEs involved, with between RM100,000 to RM1 million being channelled to 675 SMEs to date.
“Although the Special Relief Facility funds have been fully utilised, the Bank Negara Malaysia fund still offers ADF, AES and agrofood facility funds as well as other financing that are still available.
“SMEs can apply for matching financing through the SME platform,” he said of the online SME financing/loan referral platform which was launched in February 2018.
Apart from that, Zafrul said the government had also spent RM51.3 million in grants and loans to 11,412 for digitalisation service subscriptions.
A total of RM100 million has been allocated in the form of loans at an interest rate of 3.5%, and RM30 million in grants for creative industries, events and exhibitions under MyCreative Ventures. Another RM10 million is allocated under the Malaysian Cultural Economic Development Agency (Cendana).
“As for the Cendana initiative, a total of RM2.17 million was channelled to 394 recipients (compared with RM2.16 million for 393 recipients in the previous week),” he said.
Zafrul advised creative industry players to use the opportunities provided to help produce their work.
For the empowerment of people with disabilities (PWDs), the government has allocated RM26 million to increase the maximum salary eligibility limit from RM1,200 to RM1,500 for Disabled Workers Allowance assistance.
“This initiative will benefit almost 5,000 PWDs who may be facing a difficult time currently.
“The government has added RM20 million under the Pemerkasa Assistance Package from the original allocation to help entrepreneurship programmes including marketing bakery products and handicraft by the disabled and senior citizens, under the supervision of the women, family and community development ministry,” he said.
Additionally, to encourage the disabled to venture into business, the government has provided opportunities for them to register and renew their business with the Companies Commission of Malaysia for free.
“The government has also provided RM25 million under the Special Microcredit Scheme supervised by Bank Simpanan Nasional, especially for the disabled who want to venture into business,” he said.