Liaw
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Satta) president Datuk Seri Winston Liaw has backed Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations’ (Fomca) call to extend the loan moratorium offered by banks for an additional three months until the end of 2020.
Liaw said the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) had not developed into a pandemic when he first appealed to banks to offer loan moratorium in mid-February.
“We had expected the Covid-19 situation to recover in six months.
“But in March, the Covid-19 became a global pandemic which has inflicted far greater economic impact than Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).”
As such, Liaw requested the government to liaise with all banks to further extend the loan moratorium for another three months until the end of this year.
In doing so, he said all business sectors would be much more confident to restore their financial sustainability and therefore would retain existing manpower.
“Business owners are constantly worrying how to survive after September when the moratorium period is over.
“Our concern tends to affect the decision-making process as to whether to continue fighting or cut our losses from now on.”
Fomca president Marimuthu Nadason has said that the loan moratorium offered by banks should last until the end of 2020, as those who have lost their sources of income or their jobs would have difficulty in paying off debts that had accrued.