Image credit: The Malaysia News
KUALA LUMPUR: The National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (NCCIM) has urged the government to consider immediate relief measures for businesses to mitigate effects of the second Movement Control Order (MCO) and state of emergency declared nationwide to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
Its president Tan Sri Ter Leong Yap said businesses, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), small traders, retailers and travel and tourism sectors would endure tough sales and incur cash flow problems as some have stocked up goods ahead of the festive season.
He said banks should continue to provide more compassionate support in facilitating borrowers' loan repayment obligations, while the wage subsidy extended to also cover these affected sectors, apart from the tourism and retail as announced in the 2021 Budget.
He said the government should also consider a one-off financial grant to help small traders and micro-enterprises; provide rental relief and electricity discounts; as well as allowing payments of tax balances for the financial years 2020 and 2021 over a three-month instalment.
In addition, Ter said the Covid-19 vaccines for foreign workers in the businesses, especially SMEs, should also be subsidised.
On Covid-19 vaccination, he said infrastructure, including logistics and distribution plans should be drawn as quickly as possible to enable mass-vaccination programmes, stressing the need to instil public confidence and trust in the vaccine.
"The government needs to establish a timeline of distribution of vaccines and vaccination process - transparent and coordinated communication efforts, setting accurate expectations about when the vaccine will be available, the source country, types of vaccines, priority groups, risks, benefits and supply.
"The MySejahtera app must be further enhanced to speed up its extensive disease surveillance and contact tracing efforts. In addition, mass or pooled testing and isolation of close contacts must be carried out within 48 hours."
The government, Ter said, could offer short-term contracts to unemployed people, including graduates to do swab tests or be assistants and provide them some training and guidance to help in contact tracing and mass testing.
He said the implementation of the emergency rule must be carefully managed and enforced in a transparent manner and well communicated to instil confidence and ease investors' uncertainty.
"More importantly, it must be lifted when the Emergency decree has served its purpose as a protracted period of emergency period (in force until Aug 1) would undermine private investment prospects.
"During the emergency implementation period, the most critical considerations should be effective communication and dissemination of information. In this regard, the government's and regulator's engagement with industry is essential prior to the implementation of public policy and decree of new Ordinance so as to minimise disruption to businesses," he said, noting the independent committee comprised health experts and bipartisan lawmakers to be formed to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the National Emergency to ensure it is carried out in a fair and transparent manner.
He also highlighted the need to set up a single point of reference to address the discrepancies in enforcing the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) between the federal and state governments.
"The state governments and local authorities have superseded the guidelines and SOPs issued by the ministries, leading to confusion and inconsistency. This is uncalled for businesses during this extreme difficult time.
"Better coordination and partnerships between federal, state and local authorities are key to minimise business disruption when complying with the SOPs while protecting public health safety."
Source: https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2021/01/657336/mco-20-nccim-urges-govt-roll-out-immediate-financial-relief