KUCHING: The request for extension of moratorium on repayment is welcomed and seen as a good initiative to help businesses bounce back.
Last Saturday, Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) urged the Finance Ministry and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to ask banks to consider extending the moratorium on loan repayments by at least another six months.
In a statement, MTUC secretary-general J Solomon said this was needed especially for target groups who are still unable to service loans such as for housing and vehicles.
Federation of Chinese Associations of Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Division president Datuk Richard Wee said that the initiative would benefit everyone.
“It is a good initiative that can be channelled through the government to BNM on the extension.
“I believe that many business owners are greatly affected due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though businesses are allowed to resume, their ‘foundation’ is still soft,” he told New Sarawak Tribune yesterday.
Besides that, Wee also explained that many banks are worried for its customers who are not able to pay their loans due to the pandemic, thus changing the status of the loans to non-performing loan (NPL).
“With this, I hope that BNM to take a look at the request differently, and consider it,” he stated.
Not only that, Wee also highlighted that the period of extension for the repayment was suitable enough, given a total of one year extension.
“Looking at the current economic and business state in our country, the additional extension for another six months is enough,” he added.
Upon asking what are other matters that BNM should focus on, Wee assured that they indeed had come up many various packages for business owners.
“However, it would be great for BNM to put their focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as they were also affected by the pandemic,” he concluded.
