KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (July 7): According to Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz, the government will extend the Wage Subsidy Programme (PSU) to PSU 4.0, which will be implemented over four months beginning August 1, 2021, with the goal of assisting employers in continuing their operations and retaining their employees. He stated that a total of RM3.8 billion would be channeled to qualifying firms for PSU 4.0, with each enterprise being limited to 500 people.
When presenting the 60th Implementation and Coordination Unit Between National Agencies (LAKSANA) report today, he remarked, “The program has targeted 242,000 enterprises with around 2.5 million employees nationwide.”
He said PSU 4.0 will keep the RM600 per employee fee and would be open to all economic sectors for the first two months, before focusing on industries on the negative list for the last two months.
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In comparison to the previous PSU assistance, which had a salary ceiling of RM4,000 and below, the change made (to PSU 4.0) is that there is no longer a salary limit required.
“I strongly encourage all concerned employers to apply for PSU 4.0 from August 1 to October 31, 2021,” he added.
Meanwhile, Tengku Zafrul stated that the government has invested over RM15 billion under the PSU program to save over 2.8 million jobs.
He also used a simulation of a mid-sized SME (small and medium enterprise) that received numerous benefits from April 2020 to December 2021, all of which would have had a favorable impact on the company, to demonstrate the government’s ongoing aid.
“This mid-sized SME has been granted a six-month moratorium. As a result, the extra cash flow it receives for the next six months is anticipated to be more than RM4.6 million.
“This company also receives RM1.68 million in salary subsidy help,” he added.
The model is based on a company with 200 employees, an RM50 million bank loan, and a 13-month salary subsidy, which covers support from last year until the end of 2021.
Overall, Tengku Zafrul stated that after accounting for all incentives, the cash flow of this SME will show a positive impact of RM6.3 million, or more than RM300,000 per month, over a 21-month period.
“This also demonstrated that the government’s support for the private sector is ongoing. Aside from this, local businesses can take use of other benefits, such as power reductions and tax breaks “Added he./n
