Finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said the proposal would be implemented immediately after being approved by Parliament.

“With Parliament’s approval, we will raise the (ceiling limit) of the Covid-19 Fund from RM65 billion to RM110 billion, and the statutory national debt limit will be raised from 60% of the gross domestic product (GDP) to 65%,” he said on RTM’s Selamat Pagi Malaysia programme today.

Tengku Zafrul said the government would continue to help the traders, especially the micro small and medium enterprises (SMES).

He said SMEs, especially those in the retail and tourism sectors, had been adversely affected by the suspension of economic activities due to the pandemic.

“We expect that by the end of this year, depending on the endemic situation, the people can go out and businesses can resume their operations as usual, but in accordance with the new norms.”

He said the strategies outlined in the national recovery plan (NRP), which focuses on meeting economic and social needs, would help to guide Malaysia to come out from the Covid-19 crisis, both systematically and safely.

The minister also advised traders and the public to comply with the standard operating procedures (SOP) when the economy reopens because there are still many Covid-19 cases in some sectors.

Meanwhile, Tengku Zafrul highlighted that the finance ministry (MoF) had published a 2022 pre-budget statement — the first in the nation’s history, providing a preliminary overview of the direction, approach and expected benefits of the 2022 budget.

“The MoF has always been open, giving all citizens the opportunity to engage with the ministry. For the first time ever, the ministry had issued a public consultation paper to pay closer attention to the opinions of the external experts,” he said.

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