5 PEMERKASA+ initiatives that will help employees and self-employed individuals

On May 31, 2021, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin made an announcement regarding an aid package to be rolled out in light of MCO 3.0.

PEMERKASA+ has a value of RM40 billion, with RM5 billion in direct fiscal injection. It has three main goals:

• To increase the capacity of the public healthcare system
• Continue the previous welfare programmes under the Prihatin Rakyat agenda
• Support businesses in weathering the stricter lockdown

For employees and self-employed persons, these are the specific initiatives you would benefit from.

1. Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat

The government is allocating RM2.1 billion for Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat with the funds being split starting from the end of June as such:

• An additional RM500 for households with a monthly income of up to RM2,500
• An additional RM300 for households with a monthly income between RM2,501 and RM5,000
• An additional RM100 for those who are single

2. Wage Subsidy Programme

There will be a one-month wage subsidy programme under PERKESO that’s worth RM1.5 billion. It will benefit 2.5 million eligible employees and 200,000 employers. Each employer is limited to 500 employees per application.

3. One-off aid for those in tourism and travel

RM68 million will be used to provide RM500 in one-off aid for employees and self-employed persons in the tourism and travel sector:

• 17,000 tourist guides
• 40,000 taxi drivers
• 11,000 school bus drivers
• 4,000 sightseeing buses
• 62,000 rental and e-hailing car drivers

4. Penalty appeals and deferments

The Inland Revenue Board will consider penalty appeals and defer payments of penalties to 2022. At the same time, it will reschedule payment of tax arrears for affected taxpayers and businesses.

5. An automatic loan moratorium

Those who are part of the B40 and have suffered from losses of income will be eligible for a 3-month automatic loan moratorium. This applies to SMEs not operating during the lockdown too.

Eligible parties can choose to take up the moratorium or pay their loan installments at a 50% lowered rate over 6 months. Up to some 5 million borrowers with a value of RM30 million would benefit from this initiative.

• You can more on the economic stimulus packages here.

Featured Image Credit: Muhyiddin Yassin