COVID-19 stimulus package: Govt allocates RM1b for food security fund
“Amid these critical times, it is important to ensure that the supply of food is sufficient. The government will allocate RM1 billion to the food security fund."
“Amid these critical times, it is important to ensure that the supply of food is sufficient. The government will allocate RM1 billion to the food security fund."
The collaboration is to facilitate the research on a novel antiviral drug called Remdesivir, which, according to Dr Noor Hisham, has been identified as a possible medicine to treat COVID-19 patients.
Retired civil servants are also entitled to a one-off assistance of RM500, which will also be disbursed in April.
The glove association said Malaysia only requires about 120 million pieces per year. It will merely take the industry six hours of production time to churn out this annual quantity.
The central bank said the allocation of the Special Relief Facility (SRF) for SMEs will also be increased to RM5 billion from RM2 billion. The maximum financing rate is now lowered to 3.5% per year from 3.75% per year. The enhanced SRF is available until the end of the year.
These include small projects, infrastructure development, and rehabilitation of facilities which the government has budgeted RM3.1 billion for their implementation.
With the addition of 130 new cases, the number of positive cases in the country now stands at 2,161 — the fifth highest in Asia.
This is on top of the RM500 million previously announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on Monday.
The first is the introduction of a programme that will allow employers to postpone, restructure, or reschedule their mandatory Employees Provident Fund contribution for employees. The EPF will introduce this programme on April 15.