KUALA LUMPUR: The government has channelled RM20.339 billion to 357,520 employers through the Wage Subsidy Programme (PSU) to maintain the employment of 2,953,741 local workers in an effort to reduce the unemployment rate among Malaysian workers.

Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said that as of Feb 4, 2022, a total of RM14.643 million had been channelled to 1,482 employers to continue operating and maintain the employment of 24,405 workers.

With an allocation of RM600 million under Budget 2022, the government through SOCSO will continue the implementation of PSU targeted at tourism operators who experience a decrease of at least 30 per cent of total sales or income in October 2021 to December 2021 compared to any month in 2019 until 2021 before the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic.

"Applications have been open since Jan 1, 2022 until March 31, 2022, but employers from sectors and industrial activities not listed but are still affected by the COVID-19 outbreak can also submit an appeal online to SOCSO," he said in the 84th Implementation and Coordination Unit Between National Agencies (LAKSANA) report released today.

For more information, please visit https://www.perkeso.gov.my/bajet-2022/sip-bajet-2022.html.

Meanwhile, for PSU 4.0, as of Feb 4, 2022, a total of RM2.27 billion has been channelled to 146,519 employers to continue operating and maintain the employment of 1,755,737 employees.

The government is implementing PSU 4.0 with an allocation of RM3.8 billion which is expected to benefit 2.5 million workers.

"The salary limit of RM4,000 has also been relaxed which allows employers to apply for PSU 4.0 for their employees who earn more than RM4,000," he added.

Meanwhile, for SME Soft Loans Funds under the purview of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the total amount approved by local banks and accepted by SMEs is RM12.59 billion, which will benefit 26,379 SMEs as of Feb 4.

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

Tengku Zafrul said although the SRF fund had been fully utilised, SMEs could still apply for financing schemes that are still available through the BNM funds such as ADF, AES and AF.

SMEs can also obtain other financing through the imSME platform at the link https://imsme.com.my/portal/bm/ which can assist in matching the required financing with various fund providers for SMEs.

-- BERNAMA