Help small businesses cope with OPR rise, Bank Negara urged

 

Bank Negara Malaysia has been urged to take measures to help small businesses in the wake of an increase in interest rates.

PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has urged Bank Negara Malaysia to provide measures to mitigate the impact felt by small businesses caused by the central bank raising the interest rate on interbank loans.

Anwar said the increase in the overnight policy rate (OPR) must be supplemented with measures to reduce the burden on these smaller borrowers, such as loan moratoriums.

“When the OPR increases, it would not disrupt large companies, but the small companies should not be burdened by these high interest rates,” he said at a townhall event with students of Universiti Malaysia Kelantan in Bachok today.

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Anwar, who is also the finance minister, previously said the OPR would be gradually adjusted to ensure it is kept relatively stable and in line with economic conditions.

Earlier this month, Anwar told the Dewan Rakyat that the government’s decision to increase the OPR would help to support the ringgit, which slid to a record low against the Singapore dollar in May.

‘Second chance’ to SPM absentees

Anwar also told the students that he had instructed education minister Fadhlina Sidek to locate schoolchildren who were absent for the 2022 SPM examination and offer them a “second chance”.

He said the government will consider providing them the opportunity to resit the examination or help enrol them into a technical and vocational education and training programme.

“We cannot ignore them (SPM absentees) because the majority are impoverished,” he said.

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It was previously reported that 14,858 of the 2022 SPM cohort did not sit for their examinations. A total of 388,832 candidates were registered for the SPM examination. - FMT