KUALA LUMPUR: The government has approved wage subsidy applications worth RM1.283 billion under the Wage Subsidy Programme (PSU) 2.0 as of June 18, said Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

He said it had been channelled to 75,262 employers to continue to operate and maintain employment for 659,066 workers.

For the Recruitment Incentive and Training Assistance Programme, a total of 137,659 workers have managed to get jobs through the programme, he said.

"Among the major industries and sectors that employ workers are manufacturing as well as wholesale and retail trade," he said in the 59th Implementation and Coordination Unit Between National Agencies (LAKSANA) report released today.

For the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Soft Loan Fund operated by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Tengku Zafrul said that as of June 18, the total applications approved by local banks and accepted by SMEs came up to RM12.14 billion.

It will benefit a total of 25,711 SMEs, he said.

"This amount includes those of the Special Relief Facility (SRF), Automation and Digitalisation Facility (ADF), All Economic Sector Facility (AES) and Agrofood Facility (AF) funds.

"Even though the SRF fund has been fully utilised, SMEs can still apply for financing schemes that are available through the BNM Fund such as the ADF, AES and AF," he explained.

-- BERNAMA