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KUALA LUMPUR: The Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency (AKPK) is developing a Temporary Relief Programme (TRP) to reduce the burden of individual and small and medium enterprise (SME) borrowers who are still having difficulty in restoring their cashflow.

Deputy Finance Minister II Yamani Hafez Musa told Bernama the borrowers would start encountering this problem once the repayment assistance under the National People’s Well-Being and Economic Recovery Package (Pemulih) ended as their income would be continuously affected.

“The details of this programme will be announced in the near future,” he said when replying to a question from Datuk Mohd Salim Sharif (BN-Jempol) on assistance to borrowers through moratoriums at the Dewan Rakyat.

Meanwhile, in response to a question on business financing facilities from Charles Anthony Santiago (PH-Klang), Yamani Hafez cited three reasons why some applications from SMEs were rejected by banks.

“These include insufficient cashflow, business not being viable and high levels of debt.

“However, entrepreneurs who need advisory services can contact SME customer service centres at financial institutions and Bank Negara Telelink on its website telelink.bnm.gov.my and Credit Guarantee Corp Bhd (CGC), which provides an online platform that matches SMEs with appropriate financing based on business profile and scope of financing requirements,” he said.

He said SMEs that did not have any financing avenue would also be referred to the ImSME financial advisory team for further assistance and if the financing application is still unsuccessful, they could contact MyKNP, a financing advisory services unit under CGC.

Yamani Hafez said the total financing facilities approved under Bank Negara from March 6, 2020 to July 28, 2021 amounted to RM16bil, involving 37,959 SME accounts with an approval rate of 80% of the total applications.

Of the amount, he said RM10bil was allocated for Special Relief Facility to more than 21,000 SME accounts with an approval rate of 78.1% while RM3.2bil of the RM6bil allocated for the Targeted Relief and Recovery Facility was approved to 12,027 SME accounts with an approval rate of 83%.

Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2021/10/12/akpk-programme-to-help-smes-facing-cashflow-issues