KUALA LUMPUR: The government has approved 7,072 applications involving loans of RM1.334 billion under the National Economic Recovery Plan’s (PENJANA) Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Financing scheme as at March 5 compared with RM1.315 billion a week earlier.

Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the total allocation of RM2 billion under the scheme prioritised SMEs that had not received loans from banks previously.

As for the PENJANA Micro Credit Financing under Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN), he said the amount channeled remained at RM391.9 million as of March 5, benefitting 11,708 micro-SMEs including those in the retail and services sectors.

Presenting the 45th Implementation and Coordination Unit Between National Agencies (LAKSANA) report today, Tengku Zafrul said the RM200 million Bumiputera Relief Financing (BRF) introduced by Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Bhd (PUNB) saw 662 SMEs receiving funding totalling RM191.1 million as at March 5.
For the Wage Subsidy Programme (WSP) 1.0, he reiterated that up to the closing date of Feb 26, a total of 322,177 employers and 2.64 million employees had benefitted from it.

“As of March 5, the approved wage subsidy applications had reached a value of RM12.769 billion,” he said.
Meanwhile, for WSP 2.0 under the Prihatin Supplementary Initiative Package (KITA PRIHATIN), a total of RM808.31 million had been distributed to 66,591 employers as at March 5 to enable them to continue to operate and retain jobs for 554,876 employees, he said.

A total of 131,568 employees had secured jobs under the Hiring Incentive and Training Programme as at March 5, the same as in the previous week, he added.

As for PENJANA's Mudah Jaya Financing Scheme (SPiM), which is implemented by Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA), the finance minister said as at March 5, a total of 22 applications valued at RM118.3 million had been approved, of which RM10.6 million had been disbursed to 12 Bumiputera private institutions of higher learning (IPTS).

The scheme is aimed at easing the burden and ensuring the continuity of Bumiputera IPTS affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tengku Zafrul said in Budget 2021, nearly RM1 billion was allocated for micro credit schemes under BSN, SME Corrporation, MARA, TEKUN Nasional and the Islamic Economic Development Foundation (YaPEIM).

Under PEMERKASA, he said, the amount had been increased to bring the total to RM1.5 billion while the interest rate has been reduced to 3.5 per cent from 3.0 per cent.

-- BERNAMA