KUALA LUMPUR: The value of the moratorium on loan repayments by financial institutions stood at RM78.14 billion as at Aug 21, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said today.
Out of this figure, a total of RM27.35 billion was utilised by the business sector and RM50.79 billion by the people.
The moratorium came into effect on April 1 this year and will end on Sept 30, 2020.
“Banking institutions are ready to help borrowers who still need an extension of the moratorium and targeted bank assistance after Sept 30.
“Those in need of help can start contacting their respective banks to discuss and apply for more flexibility in repayments,” he said in the 19th Laksana report on the implementation of the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package (Prihatin) and National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana).
As at Aug 21, local banks approved RM10.2 billion in soft loans to 22,322 SMEs.
He said 21,000 SMEs had fully utilised the Special Relief Facility from banks to save more than 400,000 jobs.
Tengku Zafrul said 4.18 million recipients had successfully received payments credited into their bank accounts for the Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) under the Prihatin scheme, totalling RM2.7 billion.
The BSH recipients who qualified but whose payments could not be credited into their bank accounts have until Dec 31, 2020 to claim the aid at any Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) branch.
Appeals for BSH 2020 are open until Sept 6.
For the i-Lestari withdrawal scheme under the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), the total cumulative withdrawals between April and August was RM7.48 billion, involving 4.57 million recipients.
Until Aug 21, a total of RM10.3 billion had been approved under the Wage Subsidy Programme, benefitting more than 2.61 million employees.
“Out of this amount, a total of RM8.9 billion has been successfully disbursed,” Tengku Zafrul said.
