Special government grant to ensure MSMEs’ survival

MALAYSIA’s Prihatin Special Grant Plus (GKP Plus) is a much welcomed initiative that is both timely and targeted, said an economist. Putra Business School business development manager Associate Professor Dr Ahmed Razman Abdul Latiff said GKP Plus would enable micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to be assisted further, ensuring their sustainability and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Razman said the initiative was important to ensure their survivability as MSMEs contributed to almost 40 per cent of the country‘s gross domestic product (GDP) and hired 70 per cent of the nation’s labour force.

“The Perikatan Nasional government has pushed out a few GKPs (GKP 1.0, GKP 2.0, GKP PERMAI and latest GKP 3.0). All these GKPs should be considered as a continuous initiative, not a standalone one-time payout.

“Even though the amount allocated to each of them is not big, it will still be enough for the majority to at least fulfil some of their pressing and immediate financial commitments.

“If the majority of these MSMEs continue to operate and generate healthy revenue for the next few months, it will definitely support the government‘s effort to revive the economy this year,” he said.

Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz recently announced the GKP Plus payout amounting to RM883 million.

GKP Plus will be disbursed from today to MSMEs that have received approval for assistance under GKP 1.0 and GKP 2.0.

The total amount that has been approved for GKP 1.0, GKP 2.0 and GKP Plus is RM3.58 billion and it has helped out 900,000 MSMEs with a total allocation of RM3.58 billion to date.