The SME Association of Malaysia has cautioned that nearly 40% of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will shut down for good if the government decides to impose a full lockdown on the economy as part of the current movement control order (MCO 3.0).

According to a statement, the association has carried out a web dialogue with its members, on top of an ongoing nationwide survey on the impact of MCO 3.0 to derive various statistics.

“The initial report indicates that 91% of SMEs expect business revenue to be affected by MCO 3.0, with 37.5% of these companies expecting a drop of more than 50% in business performance. The survey also shows that 84.5% of SMEs will be significantly affected by MCO 3.0,” said the president of the SME Association of Malaysia, Datuk Michael Kang in a statement.

Kang further added that if the government decides to carry over the same restrictions from the first nationwide MCO to MCO 3.0, more than 40% of SMEs will fall into a worse financial situation, with two million jobs lost. He also shared that 65% of survey respondents believe that a blanket automatic loan moratorium is necessary. Meanwhile, 88.5% concurred that the delay of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) will significantly affect business performance.

“50.4% even state that they would like there to be a private immunisation programme, and are even willing to bear the costs themselves. The most important finding was that 95.8% requested that the government allocate more incentives to assist SMEs as quickly as possible,” said Kang.

Kang also emphasised that many industries have been suffering since the start of the Covid-29 pandemic in March last year. These include tourism and related businesses, events management, private education, and enrichment centres.

“Should a full lockdown be imposed, it will spell the immediate end for all businesses across the nation,” said Kang.

(Source: The Edge Markets)

• TAGS:
• Automatic Moratorium
• Blanket Moratorium
• Datuk Michael Kang
• MCO 3.0
• Moratorium
• Movement Control Order
• MSMEs
• National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP)
• SME Association of Malaysia
• SMEs