The government and banks have agreed to grant a loan moratorium for the B40 group as well as those who have lost their jobs and small businesses which cannot operate during the total lockdown.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin also announced increased aid for Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat (BPR) recipients.

In a televised address tonight, Muhyiddin said for loan moratoriums, those eligible can opt for a full moratorium up to three months or get a 50 percent reduction on repayments for six months.

According to the prime minister, the full moratorium option will be applied automatically.

"I hope this moratorium announcement will help give some relief to borrowers

"Borrowers need only contact their respective banks to get this aid," he said. This is believed to be referring to the option of reduced loan repayment instead.

Muhyiddin said the RM30 billion initiative is expected to benefit over five million borrowers. Banks are expected to announce details starting tomorrow.

Meanwhile, for BPR recipients, households earning below RM2,500 will get an additional RM500 paid at the end of June.

Households earning between RM2,501 and RM5,000 will get an additional RM300.

Unmarried BPR recipients will get RM100.

The money totalling RM2.1 billion will be transferred to recipient’s accounts late-June, and is in addition to the RM2.4 billion to be paid out in September.

To preserve jobs, Muhyiddin said the wage subsidy scheme run by the Social Security Organisation (Socso) will be extended by one month with an additional RM1.5 billion funding from the federal government.

Employers are limited to 500 workers per application, and the scheme is expected to benefit 2.5 million workers from 200,000 employers.

For microentrepreneurs and small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs), the government would increase the Prihatin Special Grant by RM500 to RM1,500 to help manage their cash flow.

Nearly a million microentrepreneurs and SMEs are expected to receive RM1,000 each in mid-June, and another RM500 in July.

Microentrepreneurs can also avail to low-interest microcredit loans from Bank Simpanan Nasional, Tekun, Mara, SME Corp, and Yapein to use as capital, with interest rates as low as three percent.

As for SMEs, loans are available through Bank Negara’s Targeted Relief and Recovery Facility (TRRF) at 3.5 percent interest rate.

Muhyiddin said there is RM5 billion still available via TRRF, and Bank Negara will increase this to RM7 billion.