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KUALA LUMPUR: SME Bank has offered SME Relief Programme Pemulih (SRP Pemulih), with phase two focusing on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from the tourism and public transport sectors.

The bank, an agency under the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives, said the programme started from July until December this year, benefitting 4,142 of its customers with a financing value of RM5.8 billion.

Phase two of the programme will start from October this year, extending the original financing period to up to 36 months.

SME Bank said the assistance was in the form of deferment on principal payments and financing profit rates.

Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar said SME Bank had started offering SRP 1.0 after the six-month automatic moratorium period ended last year.

A total of 3,084 of SME Bank customers with a financing value of RM4.1 billion received the assistance.

"Following that, SME Bank offered SRP 2.0 from October 2020 to September 2021 as an ongoing support for its customers. This targeted assistance has benefited a total of 311 customers from the retail, services, food and beverage and public transport sectors with a financing value of RM248 million.

"This SRP assistance has enabled SME entrepreneurs to focus on redeveloping their business without the cash flow burden," he said in a statement today.

Noh said apart from the SRP and in line with the government's various initiatives to assist SME entrepreneurs, SME Bank had approved financing under the Special Relief Fund amounting RM506.3 million, Penjana Tourism Fund amounting RM7.7 million and Targeted Relief and Recovery Facility Financing with RM255.7 million.

"These efforts have assisted 1,798 SME entrepreneurs," he added.

Source: https://www.nst.com.my/business/2021/10/738214/sme-banks-rm58bil-relief-loan-scheme-smes-affected-covid-19