RM52. 48b i-SINAR APPLICATIONS APPROVED FOR 5.94m PEOPLE
KUALA LUMPUR: A total of RM19.45 billion from withdrawals via i-Lestari involving 5.23 million Employees Provident Fund members have been approved up to March 12, said Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.
Up till March 14, i-Sinar withdrawals of RM52.48 billion had been approved for 5.94 million applicants, he added.
Of that amount, RM32.74 billion had been credited into members’ accounts, he said while presenting the 46th Economic Stimulus Implementation and Coordination Unit Between National Agencies (Laksana) Report on his Facebook page yesterday.
He said 7,205 applications for the Penjana Small- and MediumScale Enterprise (SME) Financing programme had been approved up to March 12, involving a loan value of RM1.36 billion.
Tengku Zafrul said the government had allocated RM2 billion under this programme, which prioritised SMEs that had never obtained bank loans previously.
He said the approved Wage Subsidy Programme (PSU) 1.0 applications had reached a value of RM12.84 billion up to the same date. As for PSU 2.0 under the Prihatin Supplementary Initiative Package, he said RM1.09 billion had been channelled to 72,531 employers up to March 12 to enable them to continue operating and retain the jobs of 619,821 employees.
For the SME soft loan funds administered by Bank Negara, he said the total number of applications approved by local banks and accepted by SMEs was RM11.75 billion up to that date, benefiting 24,819 SMEs.
He said the Bumiputera Relief Financing (BRF) fund had been channelled to 670 SMEs involving RM193.1 million up to March 12.
The government was providing BRF totalling RM200 million through Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Bhd to help Bumiputera SMEs affected by Covid-19, with a funding of between RM100,000 and RM1 million.