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PETALING JAYA: DAP Secretary General Lim Guan Eng says the party is open to collaborating with other parties to persuade the prime minister to extend the bank loan moratorium for another six months until March 31.
The moratorium expired on September 30, and Lim said the Perikatan Nasional government disappointed many Malaysians by not automatically extending it for another six months when Muhyiddin presented an additional RM10 billion in financial aid during the Kita Prihatin economic stimulus package of the last month.
“The DAP is willing to work with all political parties to pressure Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to automatically extend the bank loan moratorium for another six months to help save jobs and businesses affected by the recent surge in Covid-19 infections. .
If Muhyiddin refuses to listen to the more than 6.6 million borrowers excluded when the loan moratorium expired on September 30, then all political parties should collaborate to push for the automatic extension of the loan moratorium for another six. months to save jobs and businesses in Malaysia. .
“The third wave of Covid-19 infections has slowed any incipient economic recovery, especially among small businesses, and requires immediate economic and financial measures to prevent another economic decline in the last quarter of the year,” Lim said in a statement today.
It added that the 17.1% contraction of Malaysia’s gross domestic product in the second quarter of the year was the worst among ASEAN countries.
The former finance minister said the value of the original loan default for the 8 million individual and corporate borrowers was RM 90 billion, “a huge financial relief” that has helped save livelihoods, businesses and jobs. .
While Muhyiddin said that specific extensions to the bank loan moratorium and bank assistance after September 30 had helped more than 1.4 million borrowers, Lim said the number was far less than the eight million individual borrowers. and corporations that can benefit from an automatic six-month moratorium extension.
Lim said the cost of the automatic extension of the loan default would amount to 6.4 billion ringgit and that the banking industry, which it said posted profits of 32 billion ringgit in 2019, could afford such costs.
“Even if the banking industry is unwilling to take on such corporate social responsibility, the government should intervene.
“What is RM6.3 billion compared to Kita Prihatin’s (total) RM305 billion financial package or the value of the RM90 billion loan default to eight million individual and corporate borrowers?”
