BANGI, April 22 — All borrowers of the National Entrepreneurial Group Economic Fund (Tekun Nasional) have until the end of this year to make repayment of funding arrears, said Deputy Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk R. Ramanan.
Speaking to the press after the Tekun 2024 Aidilfitri gathering today, he said the repayment period extension was given after taking into account entrepreneurs who are still struggling to rebuild their businesses, which were adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
“Indeed, every day, some (borrowers) come forward to make repayment, but we have to give them more time, as they are still trying hard.
“This year, we also aim to reduce the number of non-paying borrowers to single digits,” Ramanan said.
He is also confident in Tekun Nasional chairman Datuk Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid’s leadership to ensure the aim of reducing the number of defaulting borrowers in Tekun Nasional financing to single digits would succeed.
On March 2, Ramanan said 137,520 Tekun Nasional borrowers had arrears of financing for over six months, amounting to RM1.1 billion, as of January this year.
Regarding the number of Tekun funding applications for this year, the deputy minister said about 30,000 applications have been received as of this month.
“I got this information from Abdullah Sani (about the number of applications). I hope more entrepreneurs will apply,” he said.
During the presentation of Budget 2024 in October last year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced an allocation of RM330 million to Tekun Nasional.
On April 3 this year, Ramanan announced RM30 million in additional funds, to be used by Indian entrepreneurs, under the Indian Community Entrepreneur Development Financing Empowerment Scheme (Spumi Goes Big).
He added the additional funds brings the total allocation received by Tekun Nasional to RM360 million for this year, and hopes the agency will always be on the right track in providing financing facilities to entrepreneurs.
— Bernama
