KUALA LUMPUR: The government will introduce the Tekun POS-preneur programme under the Strategic Programme to Empower the People and the Economy (Pemerkasa) to assist in micro credit financing in generating revenue through delivery contracts.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the funding assistance through Tekun Nasional was given up to RM20,000 for vehicle repairs and up to RM50,000 for the purchase of vans or lorries.
“Concerned with the challenging situation, the government has agreed to provide an additional financing fund of RM500 million for micro credit financing facilities through programmes under Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN), Tekun, Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) and SME Corp,” he said when announcing the Pemerkasa initiative today.
The amount is in addition to the allocation of RM1 billion for micro credit financing facilities during the announcement of Budget 2021.
The Tekun Mobilepreneur programme, he said, would be expanded to finance the repair or purchase of new motorcycles with a limit of up to RM10,000.
To complement the initiative, the Prime Minister said locally assembled motorcycles with an engine capacity of 150cc and below would be given 100 per cent exemption from excise duty from April 1 to Dec 31 this year.
According to him, Tekun Nasional will provide additional funds of RM60 million, especially for the Informal Financing Scheme with a financing limit of up to RM5,000 for small businesses from homes, pasar malam and pasar tamu.
Through BSN, Muhyiddin said a fund of RM300 million would be provided with a funding limit of up to RM50,000, where the interest rate had been reduced from 3.5 per cent to three per cent.
“The loan period is for five years and the instalment payment only starts after the sixth month,” he explained.
Apart from that, he said the Prihatin Micro Business Financing Scheme would be implemented through Mara with priority to help 1,000 Bumiputera micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to continue their business.
“A total of RM50 million is provided with a financing value of up to RM50,000 at an interest rate as low as three per cent,” he said.
Muhyiddin said SME Corp would also provide RM50 million to help local MSMEs obtain financing of up to RM250,000 at an interest rate of three per cent.
According to him, the government is committed to reviving the affected economic sectors through the immediate implementation of development projects, the provision of employment incentives as well as the provision of tax incentives and micro credit financing facilities.
Therefore, the government has increased the allocation for small-scale projects in 2021 from RM2.5 billion to RM5 billion to boost the activities of small-scale projects at the grassroots level, he said.
“Among the types of small projects that will be dedicated to class G1 to G4 contractors are repair of infrastructure and public facilities damaged by floods, road repairs, social amenity programmes, repair of stratified housing including elevator replacement in public housing, and construction of stalls in local authorities,” said Muhyiddin.
He said the government would simplify procurement procedures to expedite project implementation and at the same time minor works for local contractors would be dedicated to the states and districts concerned.
The Prihatin Special Grant or GKP 3.0 will also be continued where each eligible micro enterprise and SME will receive a one-off assistance of RM1,000.
“Application is open from April 1 for MSMEs that have not received the GKP aid before and are expected to benefit more than a million entrepreneurs,” he added. – Bernama
