[ UPDATE 29/7/2020 15:30 ]: Prime Minister has announced the moratorium extension and targeted bank assistance this afternoon. Unemployed Malaysians to get 3 months extension. More details here.
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Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will be addressing the nation this afternoon on the extension of targeted moratorium and bank assistance. The current 6-month moratorium on loan repayments is scheduled to end in September.
The PM’s announcement will be streamed live at 3pm today (29th July 2020) across multiple platforms. This includes RTM, Bernama TV, TV3 and Astro Awani.
It is reported that unemployment rates have gone up from 3.2% in January to 5% in April, which is said to be the highest in recent decades. Former Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng had called upon the government to extend the moratorium as many Malaysians and local businesses are not prepared to face the moratorium’s expiration which is just two months away. He added that more companies are expected to retrench their employees and extension is needed until the country’s economy begins to recover.
According to Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, banks are estimated to suffer a loss of RM1.06 billion monthly during the loan moratorium period. He told Parliament recently that banks will collectively suffer an estimated loss of RM6.4 billion until the moratorium ends. He added that 7.7 million people or 93% of individual borrowers as well as more than 243,000 businesses or 95% of borrowers are currently enjoying the moratorium benefits.
He said efforts to help borrowers must be balanced with efforts to ensure that financial institutions would remain resilient. The Finance Minister also clarified that the moratorium does not cover credit card debts but banks have helped its customers by offering lower interest rates.
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