Safer alternative: The number of hawkers have mushroomed over the last few years with some turning to loan sharks. BSN’s loan facility is designed to help traders and their businesses. — LOW LAY PHON/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Simpanan Nasional’s (BSN) microfinancing loan facilities of RM1.4bil to hawkers and small traders under Budget 2024 is designed to prevent them from going to “ah long” (loan sharks).
Dean of the School of Business and Economics at Universiti Putra Malaysia Prof Dr Bany Ariffin Amin Noordin said in most cases, hawkers resorted to illegal money lenders because they needed funds as capital to start or expand their business.
“Opening a business requires capital and for the hawkers to go to banks to apply for loans, it will be a problem to meet the conditions as they may not have a bank record, with low income and some are not highly educated.
“So, they end up going to ah long.
“Although it is easy to get loans from ah long, as the process is free and fast, the risk is high.
“On the other hand, with the BSN loan facility, it will be a two-pronged solution, as while it enables hawkers to start business easily, it will also prevent them from falling prey to ah long,” he told Bernama.
Bany Ariffin said the number of hawkers had mushroomed and attributed it to the many people having ventured into business as their source of income after being laid off.
Assoc Prof Dr Azwan Abdullah from the Institute for Research and Poverty Management, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, said the RM40mil allocation for the implementation of the Shop Malaysia Online Programme, especially for small traders in the food sector, would save the cost of not having to fork out rental for premises to carry out their business.
“Ten years ago, if you wanted to do business, you had to rent a shop and that required additional costs but with the convenience of technology, it is no longer necessary to have a place to carry out business, because it can be done from home.
“So, this initiative is in line with the gig economy which is directly able to empower the family economy and improve the social standard of community life.”
