Banks can help SMEs weather Covid-19

LETTER | A new strain of coronavirus (Covid-19) continues to wreak havoc in this region and causing global panic with the number of infections skyrocketing to more than 70,000 globally.

In Malaysia, the virus outbreak has hit economic growth especially the tourism sector to the tune of RM3 billion in losses from hotel bookings, flights and trip cancellations.

Therefore, the government plan to announce stimulus package in March to counter the impact of this epidemic should be lauded.

Despite the government initiative, other stakeholders such as banks and financial institutions should also play a role to show the spirit of togetherness by rolling out relief packages especially for our local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which are currently affected by this situation.

These include providing them the ease of borrowing schemes, allowing them to restructure their business loans, providing a moratorium on principal repayments, extending the due date of affected business’ trade finance bills and other suitable relief measures.

Besides, the landlords of business premises such as shopping malls and department stores should consider providing rental rebates for local SMEs to sustain businesses during this difficult period.

These relief assistances will help to spur domestic spending and improve economic growth gradually which has recently recorded the lowest achievement since 2009.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.