THE Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah is sympathetic to the call for an expanded loan moratorium and improved financial aid for businesses, said Lim Guan Eng.

“During my audience with the King two days ago, I brought up the subject of the rakyat needing government assistance to survive,” said the DAP secretary-general.

“The king was sympathetic to the call for an automatic bank loan moratorium, except (for the) T20 group, and more financial aid to save jobs and businesses.”

The King has been having audiences with political leaders since Wednesday, starting with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who is Bersatu president, and Pakatan Harapan leaders – Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Guan Eng and Mohamad Sabu.

Yesterday, the King had an audience with Dr Mahathir Mohamad, PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, MCA president Wee Ka Siong and Warisan president Mohd Shafie Apdal.

Lim said banks are currently providing targeted financial assistance to customers who need it.

“According to the Association of Banks in Malaysia, data showed that as at March 26, financial institutions had received 1.6 million applications for such assistance, with an approval rate of 95%. These 1.5 million beneficiaries compare unfavourably with the previous eight million companies and individuals who benefited from the automatic loan moratorium under the MCO 1.0.” he said in the statement.

The former finance minister said under the current moratorium for B40, banks are deferring loan repayments without waiving interest, which eventually results in higher cumulative loan payables.

Lim said the Malaysian Employers Federation has expressed frustration that the current loan moratorium is not interest-free and wants banks to waive all interest and bank charges such as for the rescheduling exercise and late interest payments.

“The SME Association of Malaysia revealed that at least 50,000 SMEs may be out of business should the lockdown last for another four weeks. About 100,000 SMEs have ceased operations since the first movement control order (MCO),” he said.

The association has warned earlier that 40% of its members will shut down for good if the government imposes another full lockdown.

“It will spell the immediate end for all businesses across the nation,” its president, Michael Kang, said in a statement last month ahead of the total lockdown.

He said an initial report from the association’s dialogue with members indicated that 91% of SMEs expected their revenue to be affected by MCO 3.0, with 37.5% of these companies anticipating a drop of more than 50% in business performance. – June 11, 2021.