• Disbursements of one-off assistance, such as the Bantuan Prihatin Nasional, assistance to students of higher learning institutions, e-hailing and taxi drivers, government retirees and others, reached an implementation rate at 94%, with value of RM14.7bn
   
• Under the Moratorium on Loan Repayment, the value of the moratorium increased to RM81.9bn
   
• The short-term focus of the stimulus measures will be on moratorium, especially for those who still need a moratorium extension and targeted bank assistance after 30 September 2020.

Short Term 3-6 Months Initiatives Were at 73% Implementation Rate

In the twentieth update of the PRIHATIN and PENJANA stimulus packages announced this week, Ministry of Finance (MOF) guided that disbursements of oneoff assistance, such as the Bantuan Prihatin Nasional, assistance to students of higher learning institutions, e-hailing and taxi drivers, government retirees and others, reached an implementation rate at 94%, with value of RM14.7bn. As for initiatives to be implemented within three to six months, such as electricity bill discounts, wage subsidies (original), moratorium, EPF e-CAP and others, the disbursements was at RM92.3bn, with a 73% implementation rate. We believe the current stimulus packages will be carried out further in the coming months, with the possibility of new targeted stimulus measures being introduced, but only if economic situation deteriorates unexpectedly.

The short-term focus of the stimulus measures will be on moratorium, especially for those who still need a moratorium extension and targeted bank assistance after 30 September 2020. As at 28 August 2020, Moratorium on Loan Repayment increased by RM3.76bn to RM81.9bn, compared with RM78.14bn in previous week. A total of RM28.6bn was utilised by business sector (from RM27.35bn in previous week) and RM53.3bn utilised by the public (from RM50.79bn).

Under BNM's SME Soft Loans Funds, banks have approved loans worth RM10.3bn for over 22,440 SMEs, an increase of RM0.1bn from 22,322 SMEs in previous week. As for the Empowering the People, Hiring Incentive Programme and Training Assistance, a total of 24,616 employees (an increase from 20,574 employees) have been successful in securing jobs since the commencement of the registration since 15 June 2020. Besides that, another update was on Wage Subsidy Programme (WSP), the applications approved increased to more than 2.62mn workers as at 28th

August (2.61mn workers in previous week), where RM10.4bn was approved (RM10.3bn in the previous week). This was equivalent to about 75% of the total RM13.8bn allocation. Ministry of Finance (MOF) highlighted that 732,000 borrowers that took the loan moratorium have resumed their monthly instalments. Although the Special Relief Facility (SRF) funds have been fully utilised, SMEs can still apply for financing schemes that are still available through the BNM Fund such as ADF, AES and AF. Another measure in supporting the local businesses is through PENJANA SME financing, as of 28 August 2020, a total of 1,615 applications have been approved, worth RM426.2 million. This was equivalent to 21% from the RM2bn allocation given.

Meanwhile, as for the update on the effort to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, a total of RM627.1mn has been disbursed to the Ministry of Health (MOH) as at 28 August out of the total allocation of RM1bn. This was to finance the purchase of medical equipment like ventilators and intensive care unit (ICU) equipment, personal protective equipment (PPE) for public and medical service personnel and laboratory equipment for Covid-19 screening. In addition, RM261.2mn has been disbursed to 792,808 frontliners as part of the Frontline Special Allowance.

Source: Affin Hwang Research - 10 Sept 2020