Give business to MSMEs, ePemula recipients urged

CYBERJAYA: Beneficiaries of ePemula should use the credit given to them to help local businesses particularly micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), says Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

The Prime Minister said this would help businesses that have been badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic to recover.

"If more businesses recover, there will be more revenue for the government.

"In return, more people – particularly the B40 group – can be assisted," he said after launching the ePemula initiative here on Friday (April 15).

Ismail Sabri said businesses, especially MSMEs, should adopt cashless transactions for easy, quick and safe payments.

He said MSMEs should move with the times as most transactions are now cashless and contactless.

He cited that in 2021, ecash transactions amounted to RM50.5bil compared to 2020 with RM29.6bil.

"This is the main reason why the ePemula programme was introduced. We want to encourage youth to embrace cashless transactions," he added.

ePemula is an ecash programme set to benefit some two million youths and students in institutes of higher learning.

Under the programme, eligible youth between 18 and 20 as well as full-time students in institutes of higher learning will be given RM150 in ecash each.

Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said as a result of the pandemic, more shops have began to accept payments via ewallets, adding that as of December 2021, Malaysia recorded a 60% increase in registration for ecash, QR code and DuitNow registrations.

He said cashless transactions went up by 74.4% compared to 2020, to 1.1 billion transactions made last year.

"Through ePemula, the government hopes the momentum for e-cash payment will remain, especially to support the digital financial initiatives," he added.

Tengku Zafrul said he hoped with the RM300mil funds for ePemula, beneficiaries would support MSMEs.

The ePemula programme will be offered through four e-wallet service providers – BigPay, GrabPay, ShopeePay and Touch 'n Go eWallet.

The initiative is a repeat of another e-cash programme for youth, eBelia, announced in the 2021 Budget.