Image credit: The Vibes
KUALA LUMPUR: The Finance Ministry on Saturday announced that the Government has agreed to directly channel special assistance amounting to RM260 million to all state governments.
Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz (pic) said the aid would be distributed equally, namely RM20 million to each state for the immediate implementation of small projects to revive the local economy at the grassroots level.
“These small projects that will be dedicated to class G1 to G4 contractors include repair of public infrastructure and facilities, road repairs, social amenity programmes, repair of public housing, as well as maintenance of business premises to ensure small traders and hawkers have a conducive environment to do business in local authority areas,” he said in a statement, Saturday.
Due to the Government’s concern for the people, he said, the Government had increased the allocation for small-scale projects in 2021 through the Strategic Programme to Empower the People and the Economy (Pemerkasa) to further boost the activities of small-scale projects at the state and grassroots levels.
According to Tengku Zafrul, the distribution of special assistance under Pemerkasa is in line with the announcement of the package by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on March 17.
Meanwhile, Tengku Zafrul said North Korea’s decision to sever diplomatic ties with Malaysia has not affected the country’s economy.
According to him, it is because the country’s contribution to the Malaysian economy is currently very small.
“I don’t think there is any impact, because it was a small contribution,” he told reporters after attending a meeting with Perlis mango harumanis entrepreneurs, in Arau, Saturday.
He was asked to comment on whether North Korea’s action had an impact on the country’s economy.
Meanwhile, Tengku Zafrul reiterated the Government’s stance not to introduce any form of new taxation system at this time... instead it will focus on economic recovery programmes to generate revenue for the country.
He said the Government was indeed conducting a study of all forms of the taxation system, but it was only at the study stage without any plan to implement at this time.
“The Government’s focus now is to revive the economy. In terms of revenue it is certainly affected because our economy was affected due to Covid-19 last year.
“But this year, Insyallah, our gross domestic product (GDP) is projected at 6.5 to 7.5 per cent, the economy will increase, revenue will also increase compared to last year,” he said.
Tengku Zafrul said the special assistance allocation of RM260 million to all state governments announced Saturday is expected to help speed up the country’s economic recovery process.
Source: http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news/168273/rm20m-each-for-all-states-to-implement-small-projects/