Violet Yong
KUCHING: Many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that applied for government-provided interest-free loan schemes have yet to received them despite approval had been granted from banks and Letters of Offer were signed, claimed Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong.
She noted that during the Movement Control Order (MCO), both the federal government and state government have announced and introduced few types of interest-free loan assistance packages targeted to help the SMEs affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, specifically zero per cent Micro-i Kredit Perihatin with a maximum Borrowing of RM75,000 under Bank Simpanan Nasional; and Interest-Free Soft Loan Scheme under Bantuan Sarawakku Sayang (BKSS).
“I have received feedback from many SMEs, which have applied for either one or both of the interest-free loan schemes, that are greatly disappointed that the loan sums are still not made available to them to date despite approval being granted from banks and Letters of Offer were signed.
“In view that most of the SMEs did not benefit from these interest-free loan schemes and thus feeling helpless over the matter because they could not get any answers or replies from the banks, it cannot stop the SMEs from questioning whether all these interest-free loans announced by the government are for real or just for empty talk only,” she said in a statement today.
She pointed out that for sustainability and maintaining the business workforce, it was crucial for the government to ensure whatever measures that had been promised and announced to help SMEs, which form two-thirds of workforce in the country and contribute almost 40 per cent to the GDP, are being materialised and implemented.
She added that based on records, Sarawak has 40,000 SMEs and made up over 75 per cent of the state’s business sector.
“Bearing in mind, there are close to 40 per cent of the SMEs that are unable to sustain more than two months of loss of income and hence, they hope that the government could address their needs immediately.
“These SMEs are not asking for free aid from the government but are appealing to borrow funds to get them through during this difficult period,” she said.
Given the uncertainties of the whole matter and most SMEs being in desperate need for the loan sum to cushion the financial impact of Covid-19, Yong believed it was pertinent that the government be truthful and transparent by making known to the public a few matters.
These include whether the loans are still available or open for application; when the loan amount will be disbursed to the SMEs; what causes the delay in disbursing the loan sums to the respective SMEs that had successfully applied for the loan; how many applications have been received, approved and rejected by the respective banks; and what is the total loan sum granted to SMEs to-date.
In the meantime, she hopes that the Bank Negara Malaysia could also come out with a full explanation on whether the funds were available.
“Many of the SMEs have been informed by the offering banks that there are no funds forthcoming from Bank Negara to implement all these interest-free loan schemes,” she added.