PETALING JAYA: Bank Negara Malaysia has said the economic stimulus measures implemented by the government will be augmented by the central bank’s broad array of measures, including reductions in the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) and statutory reserve requirement (SRR), deferment of loan and financing repayments, daily market operations to ensure ample liquidity, and enhancements to existing financing facilities under BNM’s Fund for SMEs.
In a statement, the central bank noted that net financing for the first quarter expanded at a sustained pace of 4.7% on an annual basis, supported by higher growth in outstanding loans.
In the first quarter of 2020, financial institutions collectively disbursed RM62 billion financing to SMEs, of which RM48 billion for working capital purposes.
It said that since the Special Relief Facility (SRF) was made available on March 6, the participating financial institutions (PFIs) and BNM have worked swiftly to implement the SRF, to ensure that SMEs benefit quickly.
As at May 4, PFIs have approved more than 20,000 applications amounting to about RM10 billion.
“With the gradual lifting of the movement control order (MCO) and reopening of the economic sectors, SMEs can also avail themselves to the existing financing schemes offered by the government, the financial institutions, as well as from the remaining allocation for BNM’s Fund for SMEs (All Economic Sectors Facility, Agrofood Facility, Automation and Digitalisation Facility, and Micro Enterprises Facility),” it said.
SMEs can also access financing options through the imSME platform which helps to match financing needs with a variety of fund providers that cater to SMEs.
