Govt committed to prioritising people's well-being - Mustafa

KUALA LUMPUR: The government remains committed to prioritising the people's health, safety and economic well-being, says Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.

He said the government's efforts to revive the country's economy that has been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic through the PRIHATIN Rakyat Economic Stimulus package, Additional PRIHATIN SME Economic Stimulus Package, National Economic Recovery Plan (PENJANA) and PRIHATIN supplementary Initiative Package have shown positive effect.

"This is based on improvement of three statistics mainly on the wholesale and retail trade performance, Index of Industrial Production (IPP) and monthly manufacturing statistics released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia for the month of August.

"In line with the improvement of these indicators, Perkeso has also reported reduction in the loss of employment cases and increase in the relocation of workers," he said in a statement.

Mustapa said the number of workers that have lost their jobs dropped to about 7,388 in September after reaching its peak of about 18,579 in June.

He said the relocation rate of workers also improved to 43 per cent in September from the lowest rate of six per cent in June.

"This positive development began in June when the government reopened the economic sectors after the closure on March 19," he said.