KUCHING, Nov 7: Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers’ Association (Sheda) Kuching branch’s chairman Dato Sim Kiang Chiok hoped that the federal government will grant more automatic loans moratorium to businesses.
He noted that some businesses faced difficulties to repay their financing and thus there could be bankruptcies or winding up of business if they were not provided with further financial assistance to ease their cash flow.
“On the targeted loan repayment, it only assists the B40 and M40 income groups.
“This is disappointing as we are going through the third wave of the Covid-19 infection and businesses are affected by the start or stop of the Movement Control Order (MCO) and by the lower business volume environment.
“The small and medium enterprise (SME) needs more assistance on the repayment of loans and many still need automatic loan moratorium.
“When they have started to repay their loans which include the loan capital, banks are very strict in lending out again in adverse economic situations.
“It will not be easy to borrow again for the recapitalisation of their businesses which are much needed in this poor cash flow period to help them to cover their overheads and fixed cost,” he said in a statement.
Sim, who is also a director of Sim Swee Yong Development and Construction Sdn Bhd was responding to the lack of initiatives and measures to assist the businesses as announced by Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz during the tabling of Budget 2021 yesterday at Parliament.
Sim opined that even with no further spikes in Covid-19 cases in Malaysia, the economic recovery for the country will be slow.
Hence, he hoped that the federal government will continue to respond to the people’s needs when there are further spikes in the Covid-19 situation in the country. —DayakDaily
