KUCHING, June 30: An automatic bank loan moratorium for B40, M40 and T20 borrowers topped the wish list for property sector players, says Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers’ Association (Sheda) Kuching chairman Dato Sim Kiang Chiok.
He was responding to the RM150 billion “Pakej Perlindungan Rakyat dan Pemulihan Ekonomi” (Pemulih) as announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on June 28, which mentioned that the moratorium will be made available for six months from July to December this year.
However, for small-medium enterprises (SMEs), Sim said there still have some terms and conditions to fulfill before their banks will grant the moratorium.
“In our development industry, we do not want non-performing loans (NPL) for house purchases as this would affect the market price when banks put houses up for auction due to non-loan repayment. This will cause a negative spiral effect on the property market and the bank’s own valuation or worth.
“Thus, to have the automatic bank loan repayment moratorium for all such as the B40, M40, T20 and SMEs, it will assist in giving time for the working society, businesses and industries to resume, recover, and revitalise its business and economy on the growth path again,” Sim said in a statement.
As for additional funds for SMEs to borrow through Pemulih, since Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) will add another RM2 billion to the remaining RM6.6 billion from the RM25.1 billion fund set aside for new SME applicants, Sim believes that it should be able to meet the various needs of SMEs and micro-entrepreneurs in easing the cash flow constraints of their business.
This is due to the fact that the majority of businesses have gone through 18 months of various level of lockdowns and disruption to their operations and most will need new capital to resume.
“BNM should also allow banks to assist in recapitalising (sic) businesses and relax their lending rules which are based on pre-Covid requirements and these are difficult to meet now. The usual rules of proven income, excellent payment record and classification of NPL must be relaxed from three months to six months when the new bank momoratorium ends in Dec this year,” he said, adding that BNM must allow banks to lend based on assets again.
Although there is no definite timeline given for moving from one phase to the other, Sim said Pemulih is set to end at the end of this year, matching the National Recovery Plan launched on June 15, with a road map of four phases with three main criteria to meet based on infection rates, availability of intensive care unit (ICU) beds and fully vaccinated rates.
With the availability of vaccines and a roll out plan, Sim is positive that the government is able to vaccinate 80 per cent of the population by the end of the third quarter this year, and that will allow the country to exit the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The direct cash assistance to pull through the lockdown period with Bantuan Perhatin Rakyat (BPR) worth RM4.9 billion and additional assistance with Bantuan Khas Covid (BKC) worth RM4.6 billion with both schemes paying out in stages till end of the year will help a great number of the population (emerge) from hardship from the lockdowns,” he added.
As for wage subsidies, he noted under the previous programme, they were only applicable for employees with a salary lower than RM4,000.
This condition has been taken off from the latest wage subsidy programme, meaning employers may apply for the programme even for employees earn more than RM4,000.
This, Sim said, will not only help to reduce unemployment rates, but utilise human resources and assist businesses in keeping manpower. — DayakDaily
