‘Extending loan repayment moratorium will benefit employers, workers’
KUCHING: Extending the loan repayment moratorium by a further six months would help ease the financial burden faced by employers and workers alike, said Kuching Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and Industry secretary-general Jonathan Chai.
“The moratorium, if extended, will definitely ease the cash flow of employers who are facing financial difficulties and help get their business back to normal.
“For employees who are retrenched or forced to take a paycut during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period, such relaxation from the rescheduled repayment would ease their financial burden,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
Chai was commenting on the call by the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) for the Ministry of Finance and Bank Negara Malaysia to extend the loan repayment moratorium by another six months.
MTUC secretary-general J Solomon, in a statement issued on Saturday, said an extension was needed especially for targeted groups who were still unable to service loans such as for housing and vehicles.
The current moratorium, which ends on Sept 30, took effect on April 1 as a move by the federal government to ease the burden faced by individuals, small-medium enterprises (SMEs) and the corporate sector in facing the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chai pointed out that a moratorium extension would mean extra money in the hands of the people, which could help expedite the recovery of the country’s economy through increased consumer spending.
Having said that, however, he reminded those who had opted to defer their loan repayments to be mindful of their spending or they might find it difficult to re-adjust their lifestyles once the moratorium ended.
It was reported earlier that Bank Negara Malaysia had said it was unlikely that financial institutions would extend the six-month moratorium on payment of monthly instalments for vehicle and housing loans.