#loan moratorium

Common misconception is that without a blanket moratorium, borrowers in difficulty will not get help, says Nor Shamsiah.

It is also for new recipients of the rebranded BSH and micro-entrepreneurs.

Former Umno president also calls for moratorium extension but doesn't want to work with DAP.

The central bank, however, estimates only about 15 pct of households have difficulties servicing debt due to income or unemployment shocks.

Current targeted approach does not account for spouses who lost income, says Nube sec-gen.

Banks need to be sensitive to the plight of those affected, says its president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He says banks only contacted 17 percent of the estimated 8.3 million borrowers in the country.

DAP sec-gen says PN's refusal to extend will take its toll on 8 million individuals and companies.

Of the 1.1m who gave feedback, nearly 300k confirmed they need assistance with loan repayments.

The party hopes to collect information on those who failed to convince banks that they need help.

Deputy Finance Minister II Mohd Shahar says the public, SMEs should not wait until the last minute before applying for assistance.

Guan Eng also urges the govt to inject more funds into the economic stimulus plan.

RM26b has been utilised by businesses while RM48.3b was used by the rakyat.

Its secretary-general, Lim Guan Eng believes that businesses will collapse and unemployment rise if the moratorium is not extended.

He says it should not be difficult to extend the moratorium for all borrowers by six months as banks earned RM31 billion in profits last year.

It says the move will help the SMEs struggling to regain their business momentum given the soft domestic and global markets.

The July figures are higher than the 331,000 individual borrowers and 5,000 SMEs continued loan repayments in April.

Its president also urges Bank Negara to impose a uniform set of rules for all banks in granting a loan moratorium or targeted help.

UPDATED 2.26PM | Banks will only suffer losses when their loans become non-performing loans, points out Akmal Nasir.

He calls for the loan moratorium to be extended by another six months similar to what Japan has done.