SMEs: Efforts to revive economy must start now

PETALING JAYA: Although they agree that another extension of the movement control order (MCO) is necessary to keep everyone safe, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) caution that efforts to revive the economy should start now.

With the third phase of the movement control order (MCO) ending in less than a week, many companies, especially micro-SMEs that are struggling or in the red, hope more sectors will be allowed to operate conditionally if an extension takes place.Malaysia Retail Chain Association president Datuk Seri Garry Chua is expecting another two weeks of MCO to allow the detection of new Covid-19 clusters and for the number of positive cases to go down further.But he said a “soft-landing” approach was needed as “many businesses, regardless of scale, are dying”.“I believe restaurants and some in the retail sector will be permitted to operate, but at half capacity and strict compliance with social distancing to ensure public safety.