BERA: Providing special assistance and grants to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) is more suitable compared to announcing a special moratorium, said caretaker prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
He said a special moratorium is a temporary solution because traders will still have to repay their loans.
Ismail Sabri said this prompted the government, led by him, to introduce various initiatives for MSMEs including a grant amounting to RM1 billion to help ease their burden.
"I denied (the special moratorium proposal) because it does not solve the problem because loans will still have to be paid.
"Under the 2023 Budget, the government introduced various initiatives such as free grants, funds and loans to MSMEs that can be used as capital and help further improve businesses.
"We further improved and introduced various financial assistance for the MSMEs," he said when met after the 'Kenduri Rakyat' programme at Felda Sebertak, here today.
Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was reported as saying that Ismail Sabri's government had previously rejected the implementation of a special moratorium for the sector.
Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri, who is the incumbent for the Bera parliament seat, said the 2023 Budget which was tabled on Oct 7 will be part of the Barisan Nasional (BN) GE15 manifesto as it can be fulfilled.
He said that the budget had taken into account various factors including the financial strength of the government before it was tabled.
"When they (the Opposition) saw the budget presented was good and comprehensive, they plagiarised it. I, along with the Finance minister, were the architects for the 2023 Budget and "berpijak di bumi nyata" (not day-dreaming).
"The BN manifesto is not like Pakatan Harapan's, which was done solely for the sake of (getting votes) but we (BN) are confident that this budget can be executed," he said.
