Govt touts more spending power, opposition wants more wage subsidies
CORONAVIRUS | Perikatan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan leaders have weighed in on the government’s “Prihatin” economic stimulus package.
Ruling party PAS lauded the cash aid for the B40 and M40 as well as the support given to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
“These are aimed at increasing the spending power of the rakyat...
CORONAVIRUS | Perikatan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan leaders have weighed in on the government’s “Prihatin” economic stimulus package.
Ruling party PAS lauded the cash aid for the B40 and M40 as well as the support given to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
“These are aimed at increasing the spending power of the rakyat [...] and contribute to businesses, trade and industries, which will help stimulate the domestic economy.
“PAS believes that with the integrity of both Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin leadership and the PN government, the rakyat’s socio-economic issues that are caused by the Covid-19 pandemic will be solved,” said the party’s information chief Kamaruzaman Mohamad.
Federal Territories Minister Annuar Musa also touted the benefits of giving the people more cash-in-hand and defended the government’s whopping RM250 billion package.
“These interventions are crucial during this time, and the government has no choice but to roll out a large stimulus package to ensure the economy can keep growing,” the Umno Ketereh MP said in a statement.
In line with the package’s plan to defer rent for government housing and premises, Annuar said that the KL City Hall and other related agencies would review all charges to comply with the plan.
Opposition will support package
Meanwhile, former Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Deputy Minister Sim Tze Tzin (photo) calculated that the actual money spent by the government (fiscal injection) under the RM250 billion plan was only “about RM20 billion”.
He thus urged PN to spend more, especially on wage subsidies.
“The government is only subsidising RM600 for three months (for affected workers) [...]
“The government should increase the subsidies to last one year, on condition employers don’t cut jobs,” the PKR Bayan Baru MP said.
Sim, nevertheless, said he agreed to “set politics aside” to support the plan.
Former women, family and community development minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and her deputy Hannah Yeoh earlier urged that special allowances be extended to welfare workers.
PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, meanwhile, had called for the certain allocations in the package to be debated in the Dewan Rakyat to ensure that they were fully implemented.
The PKR Port Dickson MP guaranteed that opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan would support the package.
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