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KUALA LUMPUR: A total of RM167.98 million in financing has been channelled to farmers, planters and fishermen as of July 2, 2021 to support the nation’s agriculture and food industries.

Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz said the amount was part of the RM400 million worth of financing that the government had earmarked for the groups, of which RM350 million was allocated under the Agrobank Microcredit Financing Scheme.

In the 61st Implementation and Coordination Unit Between National Agencies (Laksana) report released Thursday, he said 13,720 agricultural micro small and medium enterprises have benefited from the scheme as of July 2.

The minister emphasised that food security is one of the main priorities under the National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana) and Budget 2021.

Tengku Zafrul said RM76.62 million had been channelled to 13,873 businesses in the form of grants and loans for subscription to digitisation services as of July 2, while a total of 322,177 employers and 2.64 million employees had received benefits from the Wage Subsidy Programme under Prihatin and Penjana.

“As of July 2, a total of RM12.90 billion of wage subsidy applications have been approved,” he added.

Meanwhile, registration for new Prihatin Special Grant (GKP) 4.0 applications is open online from Thursday until July 31, said Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

“With this new registration process, some of the micro small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that did not get the approval previously and have not received GKP will still have an opportunity to submit applications for verification again.

“Micro SMEs that are eligible for GKP 4.0 are businesses that fulfil the micro SME criteria and are also registered with the Companies Commission of Malaysia, local authorities or Inland Revenue Board as at June 30, 2021,” he said in a statement Thursday.

Tengku Zafrul said payments under the RM1 billion GKP 4.0 allocation would be made in September (RM500) and November (RM500) this year for both current GKP recipients and approved new applicants. Current GKP recipients do not have to reapply.

“Overall, a total allocation of RM6.1 billion has been or will be channelled under GKP to almost one million micro SMEs since the Covid-19 pandemic began.

“The government is hopeful that the continuous direct assistance channelled to micro SMEs would ease their burden, especially for businesses that are still not allowed to operate,” he added. 

Source: https://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news/174625/rm167-98m-channelled-to-agri-food-industries/