MOF: RM86b of Covid-19 fund used as of August 2022

A total of RM86 billion or 78.2 percent of the RM110 billion Covid-19 Fund has been utilised as of August 2022.

The Covid-19 Fund allocation for 2022 is revised from RM23 billion to RM28.8 billion to finance electricity subsidies of RM5.8 billion following the government’s decision to maintain the Imbalance Cost Pass-Through (ICPT) rate, said the Finance Ministry in its 2023 Fiscal Outlook and Federal Government Revenue Estimates report released today.

According to the report, RM10.2 billion has been utilised mainly for Bantuan Keluarga Malaysia (BKM) until August 2022.

The government had also allocated as much as RM3.7 billion to ease the burden of the people and the programme has benefitted 8.6 million recipients from the lower-income group.

“In addition, RM1.9 billion was disbursed for the Wage Subsidy Programme, sustaining about 685,000 workers and RM1.1 billion for social support assistance to vulnerable groups,” it said.

The government has also disbursed RM1.1 billion for Covid-19 related expenses to enhance health equipment and bedding capacity in hospitals’ intensive care units as well as to procure, among others, test kits, reagents, medicines and sanitisers.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s labour market recorded an encouraging recovery in the first half of 2022 attributed to effective employment intervention initiatives through Budget 2022 as well as assistance and stimulus packages.

According to the Economic Outlook 2023 report released by the Finance Ministry today, as the economy transitions towards endemicity, the vibrancy of business operations had stimulated aggregate labour demand, thus creating more job opportunities in the market.  

The positive improvement in the labour market was also depicted by the declining retrenchment numbers, which dropped significantly by 48 percent to record 18,076 persons as of end-June 2022.

“The trend has returned to the pre-pandemic level as industries retained workers to accommodate the increased business activities,” the report said.

Meanwhile, the report also stated that job vacancies had doubled to over 508,000 positions in June 2022 compared to around 258,000 in the same period last year.

It said the labour market is anticipated to improve further in the second half of the year amid stronger demand for workers by businesses and industries in meeting domestic and external expansion.

“As a result, the unemployment rate is expected to continue its decreasing trend to record between 3.8 percent to 4 percent for the whole of 2022.

“Total employment is projected to expand by 1.6 percent to 15.3 million persons, with the services sector being the major contributor to employment at 65.1 percent, mainly in the wholesale retail and trade subsector, as well as accommodation and food and beverages services,” the report said.

The reopening of the country’s borders beginning April 1, 2022, and the finalisation of the memorandum of understanding with the respective source countries had also eased the hiring and mobility of migrant workers to the country.

Hence, the number of registered low-skilled foreign workers increased by 12.5 percent, reaching 1.2 million persons as at end-August 2022 as compared to 1.1 million persons in the same period last year, it said.

“Meanwhile, the number of expatriates increased by 5.5 percent to 86,023 persons as of end-June 2022 as compared to 81,539 in June last year,” it added.

READ MORE: Budget 2023: The big picture

- Bernama

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