KUALA LUMPUR: Several beneficiaries of the Prihatin and Penjana economic recovery packages participated in a live video chat with Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin during the prime minister's visit to the Finance Ministry yesterday.
They shared how Covid-19 had affected their lives and how the stimulus measures are helping to rejuvenate their businesses.
1. Michael Lo Vun Leong, 45, from Sabah:
Lo owns and operates a logistics company in Tamparuli, Sabah. He is one of the recipients of the Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) Micro/I Kredit Prihatin.
At the beginning of the Movement Control Order (MCO), Lo said his company had been incurring losses due to low demand for his transport services.
He said his company received RM60,000 in financing from the programme, which he used to buy another lorry and employ more staff during the MCO period.
2. Pajan Singh, 55, from Pahang:
Pajan is the Malaysia Budget Hotel Association (MyBHA) Pahang chairman. He owns budget hotels in Kuantan. He was forced to close two of his budget hotels during the MCO as the tourism sector was in a standstill mode as it was badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Through Prihatin and Penjana, Pajan has been able to retain his employees after receiving the government's stimulus assistance in the form of wage subsidy. He was able to keep several operations of his budget hotels following the six-month moratorium provided by banks.
Overall, he receives RM160,000 in benefits from the economic recovery packages.
He has been helping in providing accommodation for frontliners who have been working around the clock during the MCO.
The wage subsidy programme is a financial aid paid to the employer of each company for each local employee who earns a salary of RM4,000 monthly and below.
Initially, the subsidy was for a period of three months, but this has been extended to six months.
As of June 8, the Social Security Organisation, the agency responsible for the distribution of the aid, approved 293,033 applications under the programme involving an allocation of RM4.03 billion.
3. S. Pavithra, 28, and M. Sugu, 29, both from Perak:
The now famous YouTube couple, well-known for their cooking videos, are two of the many recipients of Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (BPN) under Prihatin.
They said they had been able to have a decent living during the MCO after receiving the one-off cash payment.
Under BPN, RM1,600 will be disbursed to almost four million households with monthly income of RM4,000 and below, with RM1,000 being deposited in April and RM600 in May.
For households earning between RM4,000 and RM8,000 monthly, RM1,000 will be disbursed per household, benefiting almost 1.1 million of them.
For 21-year-old individuals earning RM2,000 and below, RM800 cash assistance will be given to them.
For 21-year-old individuals earning between RM2,000 and RM4,000 monthly, the government will provide cash assistance of RM500 to benefit 400,000 individuals.
As of June 9, 10.4 million out of the approved 10.6 million individuals had received payments amounting to RM10.78 billion, or 96.7 per cent.
4. Ahmad Rusdi Mat Daud, 52, from Selangor:
Ahmad Rusdi is a taxi driver who was badly affected during the MCO. He said his income was "90 per cent" affected throughout the period.
He used to work nine to 10 hours per day, driving his rented taxi around the Klang Valley, but only managed to earn between RM20 and RM40 per day.
He was one of the beneficiaries who received a one-off cash assistance of RM600 for registered taxi drivers.
The cash assistance programme was announced by the government on Feb 27 through its Economic Stimulus Package 2020, and has benefited 29,447 taxi drivers with active drivers' cards. They will receive the payment through BSN from April 2.
5. Rosnizam Ishak, 43, from Penang:
Rosnizam has been forced to close down his restaurant in the beginning of the MCO as it was no longer sustainable.
However, through the aid he received from BPN, he has started a new business of selling frozen marinated lamb meat.
He initially received orders for only 5kg per day. Now, he has been receiving orders for about 100kg per day.
He is now doing his business "100 per cent" online, marketing and selling his products via his Facebook and Instagram accounts.
He has been helping to provide opportunities for other people to become his distribution agents, and they include restaurant owners and taxi drivers.
Rosnizam said he planned to expand his business by buying more modern packaging machines to enable him to ship his products across Malaysia.