Gov't too scared of banks to give automatic loan moratorium, Anwar claims

 

PKR president Anwar Ibrahim believes Putrajaya is not announcing another round of automatic loan moratoriums for all because the government is afraid of banks and their owners.

Anwar said information revealed in the Dewan Rakyat showed that banks were still earning large profits despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

"If I'm not mistaken, between RM7 billion to RM8 billion in one quarter.

"Can't they help to shoulder the people's burden? That's why I ask if this finance minister (Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz) is representing the banks or the people?

"But he didn't answer [...] he doesn't dare at all to touch the banks," he said in a dialogue session with the National Professors Council today.

Previously, when the movement control order (MCO) was first announced last March, a six-month moratorium on repayment on bank loans was automatically given to all borrowers.

The government’s present loan moratorium is targeted only at those who have lost their incomes or jobs due to the pandemic.

The current second MCO is expected to be extended beyond its present Feb 4 deadline but unlike last year, many industries remain open for now.

Anwar said he is aware that relief measures must not be so drastic that they cause banks to suffer massive losses.

"But (not to) the point that you don't dare to touch the banks and force them to adjust (the loans) a little. This is a very pro-capitalist policy which burdens the people," he said.

As such he said, the government should sit down and negotiate with the banks.

"Call the bank owners, and say you (the banks) need to reduce profits, reduce it but not wipe it out. What is reducing RM8 billion to RM6 billion," he said.

He said many people are struggling to make ends meet and put food on the table and the government needs to be more concerned about their plight. - Mkini