KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has about RM300 billion from various stimulus packages left to be spent on the rakyat and businesses this year, Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said.
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More than RM260 billion from eight stimulus packages (introduced since Prihatin in March 2020 to Pemulih in June 2021) had been disbursed as at end-July this year, benefiting over 20 million rakyat and 2.4 million businesses, he added.
The RM300 billion includes a further RM10 billion to be disbursed directly to the B40s and M40s.
The RM10 billion would also be disbursed to gig workers, the hardcore poor, the unemployed as well as to increase support for the handling of mental health issues, Tengku Zafrul said at the National Recovery Summit yesterday.
He said the economy was an important component of Malaysia’s recovery agenda in the National Recovery Plan (NRP) and 2022 Budget.
These key policy measures would aid hardest-hit sectors and most affected households through targeted measures and minimise long-term economic scarring, he added.
Tengku Zafrul said the NRP was a dynamic, flexible and agile roadmap that would tackle the pandemic holistically, rather than anchoring on a single metric as a deciding factor for relaxing restrictions.
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It was a comprehensive approach to restoring consumer confidence while allowing the economy to open safely, he added. “At its heart, the NRP will catapult the nation on the path to recovery.”
He said the National Employment Council (NEC), a coordinating body under the NRP, had representatives comprising the state governments of Sabah and Sarawak as well as industry experts and non-governmental organisations to share their expertise on various aspects of the plan.
“A post-Covid economy will be one of dramatic shifts in trade and services as well as harnessing the power of information and technology.”
Tengku Zafrul said a key pillar of economic recovery was job creation and the NEC would continue to increase efforts to promote quality job opportunities, skills enhancement and trainings.
As at end-August, more than 350,000 jobs were created, backed by initiatives such as MySTEP, PenjanaKerjaya 2.0, the Corridor Reskilling and Upskilling and the Penjana Reskilling and Upskilling programmes.
Meanwhile, Tengku Zafrul said 2022 Budget was conceptualised as a recovery budget to complement the government’s wider and longer-term reform efforts under the 12th Malaysia Plan.
“The economic outlook remains intertwined with that of the virus, and the path to economic recovery hinges on first getting it under control,” he added. -NST