KUALA LUMPUR:The wage subsidy programme (PSU) announced by the government in 2020 and 2021 amounted to a total of RM20.7 billion.

Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said the allocation for the wage subsidy programme so far this year amounted to RM3 billion.

"With the expansion of scope to include all companies affected by the Movement Control Order (MCO), PSU 3.0 will receive an additional allocation of RM500 million, bringing the amount to RM1.5 billion under PERMAI (Malaysian Economic and Rakyat Protection Assistance Package).

"This is on top of RM1.5 billion announced during Budget 2021," he said in the 38th Implementation and Coordination Unit Between National Agencies (LAKSANA) report today.

He said apart from the RM3 billion under PSU 2021, the Government has also allocated RM3.7 billion under the job creation programme under Budget 2021 which has just commenced.

This also included hiring incentives for employers and businesses.

Meanwhile, for the PRIHATIN Supplementary Initiative Package (KITA PRIHATIN) under which the PSU 2.0 is placed, Tengku Zafrul said as at Jan 15, 2021, the government had channelled some RM590.35 million to 57,146 employers to enable them to continue operations and maintained the employment of 475,510 workers.

"As mentioned during Budget 2021 announcement, targeted PSU had also been introduced to assist the tourism and retail sectors, whereas all sectors affected by MCO this year are eligible to receive the PSU 3.0 support under the PERMAI Assistance Package," he said.

He added that for PSU 1.0 under the National Economic Recovery Plan (PENJANA) that is still ongoing, as at Jan 15, 2021, this programme had achieved a value of RM12.702 billion for 322,177 employers and 2.64 million employees who are registered.

-- BERNAMA