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Updates: Progress of Malaysia' PENJANA package as at end-Sep 2020

 

Malaysia's Ministry of Finance has released a report on the progress of the PENJANA packages introduced earlier this year, in the country's ongoing battle against COVID-19.

The report, known as the 23rd report by the Economic Stimulus Implementation & Coordination Unit Between National Agencies (LAKSANA), was shared on Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz's Facebook page yesterday (29 September).

The initiative is divided into three goals: 

  1. Empowering the people
  2. Business recovery
  3. Economic stimulation

PENJANA goal #1: Empowering the people

First, the Health Care Scheme for the B40 Group (PeKa B40) is a scheme fully funded by the government and regulated by the Ministry of Health, that emphasises the need for the early detection of infectious diseases, especially as they get older.

Between 1 July and 18 September 2020, a total of 90,694 claims were received amounting to RM5.92mn.

People in this group who are eligible [i.e. Sara H Recipients (dup (BSH) and their registered spouse, and aged 40 years and above) will be fully funded by the Government to conduct health screening at clinics registered with the scheme.

Eligible applicants will receive four benefits from this scheme, including health screening services.

table 1 peka40

Second, in line with the re-opening of the economy, working parents now have the confidence to send their children to childcare centers. To encourage childcare centres to adopt the new Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) norm, one-off grants worth up to RM5,000 have been distributed to every nursery and kindergarten operator registered under the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (KPWKM) and the Ministry of Education (KPM).

Incentives to train new babysitters are also provided for childcare and early education courses under KPWKM. As of September 18, 2020, a total of RM18.91mn has been utilised by almost 12,000 nurseries and kindergartens for this purpose.

Next, when the Movement Control Order was first implemented on 18 March 2020, the challenge was especially in ensuring that employers could retain their employees. "In this regard, the Government has fought for comprehensive initiatives in ensuring the issue of unemployment does not increase dramatically," Minister Zafrul noted.

Among the relevant initiatives are:

First, the Wage Subsidy Programme has been extended for an additional three months (July, August and September) under the PENJANA package, and will be extended for between three to six months (for existing and new applicants) under the Kita Prihatin package. As of 18 September 2020, a total of RM11.93bn worth of subsidies have been approved, benefiting more than 2.6mn workers.

table 2 wage subsidy

However, the Minister highlighted that the Government has been alerted that a sum of less than RM500,000 in wage subsidy, which should have been paid to employees, had been taken by employers. "I would like to emphasise that the Government will not hesitate to take action against employers who commit this offence," he stressed.

Separately, a total of RM1.5bn has been allocated for employer recruitment promotion programmes thus far, through which a total of 38,186 employees (an increase from 33,688 last week) have found employment.

This number includes 29,575 people under the age of 40, 4,829 people aged between 40 - 60 years, 270 disabled and 3,512 apprentices.

table 3

The third, involves the Skills and Skills Enhancement Programmes. Several Ministries and agencies have coordinated the reskilling programme to meet the needs of the industry. This programme aims to introduce and train new skills to the participants.

Ministries and agencies that have started this initiative are

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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