Economic stimulus package details by early March: Guan Eng

CORONAVIRUS | The economic stimulus package meant to help local industries deal with the impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak will be announced by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad by early March, said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

“The announcement will be made either at the end of this month or by early next month.

“We will get input from everyone but the announcement will not be made by me, the prime minister will announce it,” Lim told a press conference in Putrajaya today.

This was after he attended the announcement of healthcare protection scheme MySalam to expand its coverage to include the M40 segment at the Finance Ministry headquarters.

He added the ministry has already started meeting with stakeholders and there would be further meetings to discuss the stimulus package.

The package was proposed on Jan 31 to deal with the impact of the economic slowdown caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Lim also said his ministry has already prepared the funding for the Health Ministry to procure more thermal scanners to screen travellers at immigration entry points.

“If there are any other requests, we will try our best to fulfil whatever the Health Ministry needs to overcome this challenge. We have to work as a team,” he said.

Putrajaya also recently announced that Malaysian manufacturers of face masks have agreed to increase their production to meet the high demand due to the coronavirus and with an assurance that the government will buy up the additional production of masks.

Asked how much the government would spend to procure the additional masks, Lim said this process had been taken over by the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma).

“We started that process, it used to be under both ministries (the Finance Ministry and the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry) but now it has been taken over by Nadma.

“They feel that this is a serious enough case to warrant it to be taken over by Nadma and now they have taken over the purchase of the face masks,” he said.

As of yesterday, the total number of coronavirus infection in the country was 18 cases of which three have fully recovered and discharged from hospitals. - Mkini