After consideration of countless woes and hardships faced by Perakeans, the state government is expanding the Economic Stimulus Package (PRE) to cover more layers of the community affected by COVID-19 and the resulting Movement Control Order (MCO).
According to the Menteri Besar of Perak Dato’ Saarani Mohamad, this is an addition to the existing PRE which was announced back on June 2 earlier this month.
“The newly added initiatives will cost some RM6.2 million on top of the initial RM19.5 million, totalling the PRE to RM25.7 million. 44 overall initiatives comprising the contribution of aid to every Perakean directly hit by the pandemic will be involved.”
He told reporters during an online media session via Zoom today (June 16).
The essence of the additional PRE initiatives:
- One-month repayment moratorium for June 2021 for entrepreneurial microcredit loans to 743 entrepreneurs under Yayasan Bina Upaya (YBU) and Yayasan Perak, involving RM244,450.60.
- One-month moratorium of loan repayments for June 2021 for the Skim Rumah Insan Amanjaya (SRIA) (housing-loan scheme) is expanded to all 769 recipients, in comparison to the previously announced 443 only.
- Implementation of the Perak Entrepreneurs’ Go Cashless n E-Commerce 2021 (GLeMMER 2021) Initiative to encourage cashless transactions by traders, businesses and entrepreneurs in operation during the MCO.
- The state government will be giving away subsidy vouchers of between RM2 to RM5 for purchases and deliveries, projected to benefit some 80,000 traders, businesses and entrepreneurs.
- GleMMER 2021 is a joint effort with nine online platform companies, which are Shopee, Lazada, Grab, Foodpanda, Warongku, Halo Je, J&T, Touch n Go and Boost.
- Incentives for tourism operators are also expanded, comprising:
- One-off RM2,000 special aid each for 45 budget hotel operators registered under the Malaysia Budget Hotel Association (MyBHA) Perak, involving RM90,000.
- One-off RM2,000 special aid each for 38 hotel and resort operators at Pangkor Island, involving RM76,000.
“The state government will continue receiving inputs and monitoring on-site situations, particularly localities that fall under the enhanced MCO (EMCO) implementation, to ensure that the fate of affected Perakeans are properly defended,” Saarani added.
For further reading, refer to this article by Ipoh Echo.
Chris Teh
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