The moratorium on loan repayments has assisted more than 7.7 million people and 243,000 SMEs so far.
He said while banks might face losses, small businesses and borrowers would suffer more if the moratorium ends as scheduled. “Do these ‘losses’ just mean delays in profits ? In fact, some small business borrowers are forced to bear compounded interests throughout the moratorium,” he added.He also said it would be premature to end the moratorium soon as the economy had yet to stabilise.
“An extension to the moratorium would allow individual and small business borrowers to revive their income. If the moratorium stops before the economy stabilises, the NPL rate will increase, which would then cause banks real losses.” Meanwhile, former finance minister Lim Guan Eng said extending the moratorium would be a “small price to pay” for the banking industry given the number of people and businesses that had benefitted from it.