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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim urged the government on Wednesday (September 30) to consider implementing a more targeted loan moratorium, which focuses on low-income households and small businesses.
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced on March 25 the implementation of a six-month moratorium on all loans, which ends on September 30.
“We have yet to see a significant recovery in wages for low-income families or stable incomes for small businesses in Malaysia,” Anwar said in a press release.
He expressed disappointment that the government had decided not to extend the moratorium for three more months.
“While a full blanket moratorium may not be necessary, failure to take the initiative in imposing a specific moratorium is a neglect of responsibility and a serious lack of leadership,” Anwar said.
In late July, Muhyiddin announced that the moratorium would be selectively extended for another three months for those who had lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic and were still unemployed, while those who had suffered pay cuts would benefit from a reduction of monthly fees.
READ: COVID-19: Malaysia extends loan moratorium by 3 months for those who lost their jobs
Most recently, on September 23, Muhyiddin announced that 93 percent of the requests for extension of the moratorium and targeted banking assistance had been approved.
Delivering the special “Kita Prihatin” speech, the prime minister said that banking institutions had held talks with more than 1.4 million borrowers and 380,000 had confirmed that they really needed 9/11 assistance.
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin addressed the nation on September 23, 2020 (Photo: Bernama).
“While I applaud the collective effort of the banks, I note that there are an estimated 8.3 million total borrowers in Malaysia,” Anwar said on Wednesday.
“In other words, the banks had only managed to talk to 17 percent of their borrowers,” said the opposition leader, adding that this indicates that the government and the banks still do not know the general opinion of the borrowers.
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Anwar said that he was committed to the policy of a resilient banking system, but that it was essential that the Malaysian banking sector be more transparent and accountable.
“The government and banks must provide greater transparency on the latest sector liquidity and profitability data to Parliament, so that legislators can consider and formulate an appropriate and holistic policy response,” he said.
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Earlier this month, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said the general loan repayment moratorium was valued at 89.6 billion ringgit ($ 21.55 billion) as of September 11.
Businesses benefited from the moratorium in the amount of RM31.4 billion, while RM48.2 benefited individuals, the minister said.
