KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s economic recovery plan is on the right track with the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme now off the ground, says the Finance Minister.
Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz (pic) said many economic sectors, such as tourism and retail, were waiting for borders to be reopened, not only in the country but also internationally.
Presenting the 42nd Implementation and Coordination Unit Between National Agencies report yesterday, he urged small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and micro SMEs in the tourism sector, which were still affected by the pandemic, to take advantage of the RM1bil Penjana Tourism Financing scheme.
As at Feb 12,282 applications involving RM57.1mil in financing had been approved under the scheme.
Tengku Zafrul said economic recovery would follow with recovery in public health, adding that the World Bank had forecast that the national economy would grow between 5.6% and 6.7% for 2021 following the global rollout of Covid-19 vaccinations, which was in line with the forecast of a 4% world economic growth.
The government is targeting to vaccinate almost 27 million people, representing over 80% of the country’s population, by the first quarter of next year.
Meanwhile, one-off financial aid of RM500 for drivers of taxis, school buses, sightseeing buses, rental and e-hailing vehicles began rolling out yesterday.
Tengku Zafrul said the assistance under the Malaysian Economic and Rakyat’s Protection Assistance Package involved about 110,000 people with a total allocation of RM55mil.
“Some 20,000 taxi and rental car drivers have received the assistance which has been credited into the accounts of the drivers involved, while 15,000 will receive the assistance in stages by March 15,2021, ” he said in a statement yesterday. — Bernama
