The PEMERKASA initiative announced on Wednesday 17th March 2021 shows a reasonable level of assistance and aid to vulnerable groups such as the recently unemployed and the self-employed who have lost significant levels of income. Altogether the package is worth RM20bil and is focused on 20 strategic initiatives to boost economic growth, support business continuity and continue targeted assistance to people and sectors most affected by the pandemic. Of this RM20bil, RM11bil will be earmarked as direct fiscal injection. This is rather unorthodox from previous spending packages as the vast majority of funding in previous rounds were devoted to non-direct fiscal measures such as through the banking system and Employee Provident Fund (EPF) withdrawals.
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