IPOH: An additional RM6.2 million has been allocated in the Perak Sejahtera Economic Stimulus Package (PRE) 2021, to cover more groups impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, following the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO).
Perak Menteri Besar, Datuk Saarani Mohamad (pix), said the allocation was in addition to the total of RM19.5 million, announced on June 2 under the Perak Sejahtera PRE, which has now been increased to RM25.7 million, involving 44 initiatives and assistance to the people of Perak.
The additional initiatives include a moratorium on repayment of microcredit loans for entrepreneurs under Yayasan Bina Upaya (YBU) and Yayasan Perak for a month starting June, which will benefit a total of 743 entrepreneurs and involve arrears of RM244,450.60.
“Besides that, the loan moratorium for the Rumah Insan Aman Jaya housing scheme has also been extended to all borrowers, which is 769 compared with 443 borrowers that were announced previously,” he said at a virtual press conference today.
He said that the state government would also provide subsidy vouchers for purchases and deliveries worth RM2 to RM5 which would benefit 80,000 traders, hawkers and entrepreneurs, as a result of cooperation from nine online platform companies, through the implementation of the Go Cashless n E-Commerce Perak Entrepreneur (GLeMMER) 2021 initiative.
He said that the implementation of GLeMMER 2021 aims to encourage the use of cashless transactions by hawkers, traders and entrepreneurs operating during the implementation of MCO, with cooperation from nine online and delivery platform companies, namely Shopee, Lazada, Grab, Foodpanda, Warongku, Halo Je, J&T, Touch n Go and Boost.
Saarani said that incentives for tourism operators would be expanded through a ‘one-off’ grant of RM2,000 to 45 budget hotel operators registered under the Perak Malaysian Budget Hotel Association (MyBHA Perak), as well as 38 Pangkor hotel and resort operators.
On June 2, the state government announced the Perak Sejahtera PRE, worth RM19.5 million, to cushion the impact of Covid-19 and the full closure of the social and economic sectors under the MCO nationwide.
In another development, Saarani said that a total of 2,000 RTK Antigen screenings would be conducted at several hotspot localities identified statewide, from the beginning of this month, especially in the Kinta as well as Larut, Matang and Selama districts.
“We are targeting 2,000 screenings for a start, and will increase this figure from time to time as needed, based on analysis from the Perak Health Department (JKN),” he said.
He said that the locally targeted screening would help identify those who were positive but asymptomatic, to detect infections earlier and help Perak JKN in terms of increasing screening capacity for case detection at an early stage and subsequently more effective control measures.
“In this case, the state government has identified qualified service provider companies that meet the standards as required by JKN Perak,” he said. — Bernama
