“This data would most likely be three times more by now, given the MCO 2.0 and MCO 3.0, and including businesses that have ceased business without reporting to SSM,” he said. “Indeed, 30 per cent of SMEs would have run out of cash during this FMCO, and if the FMCO is extended, many of these would simply close down. However, after over a year of disrupted business, SMEs are no longer in a position to survive on their own.

“During MCO 1.0, many SMEs still have cash buffers to keep their businesses afloat.

He cited a November 2020 announcement by the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) that some 30,000 businesses have closed down since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Our focus should go beyond re-opening of the economy to helping our SMEs gain lost ground and sprint ahead of our regional peers,” he said in a statement in conjunction with World SME Day here. “The government needs to be leading at this crucial period by providing a clear, realistic roadmap for our economy and by extension, our SMEs to recover from the pandemic and tap into opportunities in the new normal. Samenta Central chairman Datuk William Ng went as far to say that 16 per cent of those polled expected their businesses to only recover in 2023, citing the devastation caused to the majority of the country’s SMEs due to enforced containment measures nationwide. This is according to a mid-term survey conducted by the Small & Medium Enterprises Association Malaysia (Samenta) on its members from 19 to 23 June. KUALA LUMPUR, June 27 - With a looming extension to the ongoing third movement control order (MCO 3.0), two out of three small and medium enterprises (SME) in the country have expressed zero hope for any recovery in 2021, an interest group representing them said today.

Total lockdown malaysia 2021