By Yee Mei
KUCHING, Nov 22: During the movement control order (MCO) period, 64.8 per cent of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Sarawak have lost their income.
Deputy Minister for International Trade, Industry, and Investment Datuk Malcolm Mussen Lamoh said this was the findings of a survey conducted by his Ministry on the impact of Covid-19 on SMEs, which included micro-entrepreneurs, petty traders, and hawkers.
“This was supported by similar findings by the Department of Statistics, which reported 67.8 per cent of all businesses in Malaysia, including SMEs, had recorded no income during the same period.
“The Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) has also reported 3,641 companies in Sarawak have wound up (court and voluntary winding up petition) between 2020 and 2022,” he said in response to Safiee Ahmad (PBB-Daro) during question time at the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting today.
He added that to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic, the State government implemented the Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang (BKSS) packages totalling RM6.7 billion.
In addition, the Federal government provided various assistance under the PRIHATIN, PENJANA, PERMAI, PERKASA, and PEMULIH packages.
Safiee then posed two supplementary questions — the first asking how many entrepreneurs have benefited from the assistance provided by the Ministry.
“From 2020 until now, the Ministry has helped 10,500 entrepreneurs with assistance worth RM187.59 million,” Malcolm replied. — DayakDaily
