Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the SMEs are among the groups severely affected by the third nationwide Movement Control Order 3.0 (MCO 3.0).

KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (MEDAC) and its agencies are offering moratorium and other targeted assistance with an estimated value of RM746.79 million for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to help cushion the impact of the nationwide lockdown order.

"The assistance offered is expected to benefit a total of 734, 707 borrowers and tenants of the agencies, which also include micro enterprises as well as informal businesses -- those in the B40 category, ” it said in a statement today.

Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the SMEs are among the groups severely affected by the third nationwide Movement Control Order 3.0 (MCO 3.0).

"Many of these small businesses do not have much savings to fall back on and because of that they need all the assistance they can get to survive, ” he said.

Agencies providing the moratorium and targeted assistance are Bank Rakyat, SME Bank, TEKUN Nasional, SME Corp, Perbadanan Nasional Bhd, Cooperatives Commission of Malaysia, and UDA Holdings.

"We hope to be able to assess the situation better and subsequently help us in coming up with more targeted assistance and programmes that would best suit the SMEs, ” he added. - Bernama