Malaysia formulates 2021 Budget measures from Prihatin feedback

KUALA LUMPUR: The government is formulating comprehensive measures under 2021 Budget based on the findings of Prihatin Rakyat economic stimulus package survey.

The survey on the impact of Prihatin stimulus had been carried out from August 19 to September 22, Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said.

The findings being considered from the survey include increasing support for mental health services, facilitating access to assistance for vulnerable groups, strengthening the role of government-linked companies in supporting communities; enhancing the role of social enterprises and increasing job opportunities.

Tengku Zafrul said the survey was one of the government’s efforts to listen to the people on an ongoing basis.

“More than 11,000 responses have been received from the people. This includes field trips made by the (ministry’s) Laksana team to more than 10 locations nationwide including Kuala Lumpur, Cyberjaya, Melaka and Kuala Terengganu.

“The team also gained input from a targeted group that was categorised as ‘distressed’ across the B40, M40 and T20 income groups. This includes individuals who are unemployed, self-employed or are business owners and entrepreneurs,” he said in the latest Laksana update today.

Tengku Zafrul said the government hoped to allocate resources under the 2021 Budget to strengthen coordination of data-sharing across the federal and state government agencies, local authorities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

“The government is aware that there is still room for improvement, and will always provide the best for the people, business and economy,” he said.

According to Tengku Zafrul, more than 80 per cent of respondents had been satisfied with the Prihatin initiatives.

This comprises 55 per cent with high levels of satisfaction and 26 per cent with a normal level of satisfaction.

He said when the satisfaction level was categorised according to the type and duration of assistance, it was found that for one-off assistance, among the measures with the highest satisfaction score were Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (BPN) (68 per cent) and MySalam (66 per cent).

“For assistance implemented between three to six months, the highest satisfaction score is for the Employment Retention Programme (70 per cent), followed by the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) moratorium (69 per cent).

“While, for long-term assistance, the Private Retirement Scheme and EPF contribution reduction received the highest satisfaction score (69 per cent) while the rental site exemption and Public Housing Project rental exemption both received a satisfaction score of 60 per cent each,” said Tengku Zafrul.

On the overall implementation status of Penjana Economic Recovery Plan, he said for one-off cash assistance such as e-penjana, one-off grants to registered nursery and kindergarten operators, and others (involving RM655 million), the level of implementation was at 69 per cent.

For initiatives implemented over a period of three to six months, such as the extended wage subsidies (first phase), My30, PEKA B40, Shop Malaysia Online, and others (involving RM4.38 billion), the level of implementation stood at 44 per cent.

“This is encouraging progress because a number of Penjana initiatives were rolled out in stages between June and September,” he said.

Source: NST