SME Association of Malaysia president Datuk Michael Kang said some 100,000 small and medium enterprises (SME) may have closed down since the imposition of the movement control order (MCO) in March.
This figure is three times the statistics available at the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM), which showed 32,469 SME have wound up between March and September.
Quoting CCM figures, Enterpreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar told Hulu Selangor MP June Leow Hsiad Hui in a written reply in Parliament on Monday that 9,675 SME ceased operations during the first phase of the MCO from March 18 to June 9 and 22,794 during the recovery MCO phase from June to September.
He said in August alone, some 17,800 SME ended operations.
Kang told China Press the figures provided by the minister were official statistics, and the unofficial number is much higher as many SME have some loose ends to tie up after pulling down their shutters before submitting documents to CCM.
He said a random survey of 1,700 SME done by the association at the end of September showed about 20% of them intend to cease operations.
“I have been informed that many in the food and beverage business have closed shop for the time being following implementation of the conditional MCO in a number of states in the peninsula because there are no customers.”
