PEMULIH Recovery Plan: Part 2 – For The Economy

Aid that benefits the workers, entrepreneurs, labourers, organisations, and companies.

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Prime Minister Tan Sri Mahiaddin Md Yasin on 28 June announced the RM150 billion Rakyat Protection and Economic Recovery Package (PEMULIH) as Malaysia continues to remain in lockdown under Phase 1 of the National Recovery Plan.

The total value of the PEMULIH package is RM150 billion and includes the government’s direct fiscal injection of RM10 billion.

PEMULIH has three main focuses: continuing the People’s Concern Agenda (Agenda Prihatin Rakyat), supporting businesses, and improving vaccination rates.

Supporting businesses

Geran Khas Prihatin (GKP) 4.0

The government has agreed to provide additional payments under Geran Khas Prihatin (GKP) 4.0 to the eligible recipients. RM500 will be paid in September and RM500 again in November 2021.

Program Subsidi Upah (PSU) 4.0

Through the Program Subsidi Upah (PSU) 4.0 initiative, the government will accommodate up to 500 workers for each employer at a rate of RM600 per employee for a period of four months; 2 months for all sectors in Phase 2 of PPN, and the next 2 months specifically for sectors categorized in the negative list during Phase 3.

Under PSU 4.0, there are no salary limit conditions. This means employers can apply for PSU 4.0 for its employees who earn more than RM4,000.

HRD Corp levy exemption

HRD Corp levy exemption for a period of two months will be given automatically to employers who are currently unable to operate under MCO.

Additionally, employers from new sectors that are included as a result of an extension of the Perbadanan Sumber Manusia Berhad Act 2001, will get an extension of levy exemption until 31 December 2021.

New jobs

Under the National Employment Council (NEC) the government will create employment opportunities and skills training placements through collaboration strategies between Government agencies and industry players.

Through the PenjanaKerjaya program by SOCSO, the government has provided financial incentives to employers who provide new job opportunities.

PenjanaKerjaya 3.0 program will continue with some improvements. The salary eligibility limit is lowered from RM1,500 to RM1,200.

The term of the employment contract will also be relaxed from 12 months to 6 months for the category of employees aged 50 years and above, the disabled, and ex-convicts.

Go online and cashless transactions

To encourage digitization and cashless transactions, the government has developed the Program Pemerkasaan Pendigitalan Usahawan Kecil or PUPUK with an allocation of RM200 million for micro, small and medium enterprises (PMKS) and RM100 million for small and medium enterprises (PKS).

For the entertainment industry

The government will allocate RM100 million in the form of financing facilities and financial assistance support.

These provisions include incentives for the production of creative works and digital content, career opportunities, skills upgrading programs, contributions protection under SOCSO, as well as the acquisition of products for production purposes in television, radio, and songwriting.

Child Care Centres

The government will provide Bantuan Khas Taska in the form of RM3,000 to more than 4,400 nursery operators supervised by the Ministry of Women, Family,
and Community Development, as well as more than 8,000 private kindergarten operators supervised by the Ministry of Education.

School Canteen Operators

The government agreed to provide financial assistance in the form of RM1,000 to all registered school canteen operators.

Sports Industry

Sports industry entrepreneurs and operators of sports facilities such as gyms, bowling alleys, futsal courts, and so on will receive a one-off RM3,000 assistance.

The OKU

Those who are disabled and have lost their job or are unemployed, and are not a recipient of the Elaun Pekerja Cacat, will receive RM500 for a period of three months.

The government will also implement the Program Jaringan Inisiatif Umum or JITU for the purpose of providing basic business capital assistance and mentoring for the disabled and the homeless, in business.

Mara entrepreneurs

The government agreed to allow MARA entrepreneurs to apply for a deferment of repayment of their MARA business financing for a period of three months or rescheduling of their financing repayments by extending the financing period by up to 36 months.

The discount of 30% on the rental of MARA business premises will be extended up to December 2021.

SMEs

In support of the SME sector, the government will further increase the guarantee ceiling under Syarikat Jaminan Pembiayaan Perniagaan Berhad (SJPP) by RM20 billion to a total of RM56.5 billion.

To further support micro-businesses, the microcredit financing program will continue with an additional RM1.1 billion in funds.

This easy financing will be provided by AgroBank and Bank Simpanan National at RM500 million each, and RM100 million by TEKUN.

To support cooperatives, an allocation of RM20 million will be made for Pembiayaan Intervensi Pemulihan Ekonomi Koperasi.

Tourism

The government will provide one-off assistance of RM3,000 to more than 5,300 registered travel agencies for when the country moves into Phase 3 of PPN.

The government has also agreed to defer payment of monthly income tax installments for companies and exempt tourism tax and service tax for hotel operators until the end of this year.

As the country moves into Phase 4 of the PPN, the government will consider appropriate allocations to rehabilitate and revitalize tourism activities.

i-Citra

The EPF will introduce a new withdrawal facility, i-Citra.

Through i-Citra, a total of 12.6 million EPF members can make withdrawals of up to RM5,000 with a fixed payment rate of RM1,000 per month for a period of five months and subject to the member’s total EPF savings.

Members can start applying for the EPF withdrawal facility on the i-Citra online portal at icitra.kwsp.gov.my from 15 July 2021, with the first payment expected to be credited to the member’s account in August 2021.

Bank loan repayment moratorium

The government agreed to defer repayment of education loans as follows:

A targeted moratorium for 3 months to PTPTN borrowers.
Defer repayment of Pinjaman Pelajaran Persekutuan under the JPA and payment of compensation claims of Biasiswa Persekutuan recipients for up to 6 months.
Deferring the repayment of Pinjaman Pelajaran MARA for a period of 3 months or rescheduling the repayment of the loan with monthly installments as low as RM100 for 12 months.
Deferring the repayment of the Perbadanan Tabung Pembangunan Kemahiran (PTPK) loan for 3 months.

Affected insurance and takaful policyholders can also apply to defer their insurance premium payments and takaful contributions (opt-in) which will be extended until 31 December 2021.

This initiative covers policyholders and life insurance and family takaful certificates.

A six-month moratorium will be given to all individual borrowers, whether from the B40, M40, or T20 group, and micro-entrepreneurs.

There are no more conditions such as income reduction, no review of whether you have lost your job and no more documentation to be submitted for the application. You just need to apply and approval will be given automatically.

This facility is also offered to the affected SME operators subject to review and approval by the bank.

The application will open on July 7, 2021.

The borrower only needs to apply and sign an agreement to amend the relevant loan terms.

You can find the original text for the speech here.

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