KUALA LUMPUR – The government has approved 6,507 applications involving RM1.23 billion under the National Economic Recovery Plan’s (Penjana) small and medium enterprise (SME) financing scheme as of January 29, said Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.
The Penjana SME financing scheme, with a RM2 billion allocation, prioritises SMEs that have never received prior bank financing.
For the Penjana Tourism Sector Financing for SMEs and micro-enterprises still impacted by Covid-19, with an allocation of RM1 billion, he said that as of January 29 there were 573 applications under this scheme, and of this total, 277 applications have been approved with a total financing of RM55.4 million.
“The Bumiputera Relief Financing, which was introduced by Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Bhd with a fund of RM200 million, saw 519 SMEs receive RM143.8 million, compared to 494 SMEs receiving a total of RM135.5 million the previous week,” he said when presenting the 40th Economic Stimulus Implementation and Coordination Unit Between National Agencies (Laksana) report today.
For Penjana’s third objective of stimulating the economy, Tengku Zafrul said this week’s report focuses on service tax exemption for hotels up to June 30 to support the tourism sector, of which the value of tax exemptions utilised by hotel and accommodation operators has reached RM1.37 billion – an increase of RM533.42 million – compared to RM836.56 million in the previous week.
He said among the initiatives to support the tourism sector are individual tax reliefs of up to RM1,000 on travel expenses as well as full exemption on tourism tax for foreign tourists. – Bernama, February 10, 2021
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