PETALING JAYA: Manufacturers have urged the government to support industries during this crucial period with the necessary financial assistance and initiatives including allocating a Special Relief Fund to assist companies especially the SMEs.
In welcoming the Ministry of Financeâs statement that it will work on an assistance package for the affected rakyat and economic sectors, the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) called for automatic bank loan moratorium for at least three months or more effective from June 1.
âReinstate the Wage Subsidy Programme (WSP) for all industries for the phases of the lockdown period with RM800âRM1,000 per employee,â its president Tan Sri Soh Thian Lai said in a statement.
âSuspend or extend the payment date for all statutory contributions given that operations would be in total lockdown except for the allowable essential economic and services sectors.â
He also called for a waiver of TNBâs Maximum Demand charge for May 2021 given that industries have already been on a reduced workforce of 60% from May 25 2021 and the period of lockdown just announced which could possibly be extended.
âContinue with the electricity rebate for the next six months from July to December 2021,â Soh said.
âSuspend Gas Malaysiaâs Take or Pay (TOP) in gas off-take agreement for May 2021 given that industries have already been on a reduced capacity of 60% from May 25, 2021 and the period of lockdown just announced which could possibly be from June to July 2021.â
He also urged the government to allow manufacturing industries with contractual export orders to operate at 50% capacity even if they are not in the essential economic sectors.
Soh highlighted the need to allow all import and export activities to continue including ports, warehousing and all goods transport activities.
âAllow industries to undertake maintenance of plant as well as those with furnaces and kilns that need to continue running on a 24/7 basis and cannot be shutdown to operate with 20% workforce capacity,â he added.
