Government to listen to all views on request for loan moratorium extension - Mustapa

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said the move must be studied carefully as it was of utmost importance to stimulate the country's economy that was affected by COVID-19.

"As a caring government, we have to listen to the views of all parties, including the people, businesses and local banks that say the request is difficult to implement as it would put pressure on them.

"What the government decided to do prior to this has significantly reduced the burden of the people and business community. At present, our focus is to spur the economic sectors. Through stronger growth, the call to extend the moratorium (deferment) period would lessen," he said.

He was speaking to reporters today after officiating the Digital Economy Generation Programme at the Jeli Dakwah Centre (Pondok Moden) which was attended by about 100 small entrepreneurs as well as representatives from government agencies such as the East Coast Economic Region Development Council and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.

On March 25, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced a six-month moratorium, conversion of credit card balance to term loans and restructuring of corporate loans in an initiative estimated to be worth at least RM100 billion.

The moratorium, which began on April 1, was introduced to ease the burden faced by the small and medium enterprises as well as individuals.

Mustapa pointed out that to-date, 90 per cent of the business sector had resumed operations albeit at below the desired volume, such as the hotel and retail sectors which had yet to return to their pre-pandemic level of activity.

"If the economic situation continued to be bleak, the government may consider requests such as extending the moratorium period; however, we are confident the economy would improve further," he said.

Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said today that it was up to the banks if they wanted to extend the moratorium in a targeted way, and that it should be looked at on a case-by-case basis.

On the five high-impact projects planned for Kelantan, Mustapa said he was scheduled to be briefed by the Kelantan Public Works Department later in the day on their progress status, which was said to be quite slow.

These projects are the construction of Phase 3 of the East Coast Highway (LPT3), expansion and upgrading of the Sultan Ismail Petra Airport, new Pasir Puteh-Machang-Jeli route, Kota Bharu-Kuala Krai Expressway and the Palekbang-Kota Bharu Bridge.

On March 7 last year, the then-Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali announced that the Federal Government had approved an additional RM200 million allocation for the state's development, raising the total allocation for Kelantan under the Mid-Term Review of the 11th Malaysia Plan to RM1.4 billion.