Govt move to defer loan repayments, credit cards to cover RM100bil worth

PUTRAJAYA: The move by the government to defer loan repayments and two other measures to help individuals and businesses weather the effects of the movement control order (MCO) will cover a sum that amounts to at least RM100bil.

According to the government's announcement, individuals and small and medium enterprises would be given a six-month reprieve on the repayment of their existing loans, including mortgages and hire purchases.

Apart from this, credit card card holders can choose to convert the outstanding balances into term-loan.

In addition, the corporate sector can discuss with the banks to restructure their loan repayment that is suitable to their business.

"This is important so that companies can continue to afford to retain employment and carry out their business activities soonest," said Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in a statement on Wednesday (March 25).

Muhyiddin said the government was aware that the impact of the Covid-19 not only caused health concerns among the people, but that the movement control order (MCO) had also affected them financially.

"The public, from entrepreneurs to farmers, from fishermen to those paid daily wages, are concerned about their finances, particularly how to make loan repayments.

"The government is studying various measures that can ease the burden of the people, and we will launch another economic stimulus soon," he said.

On March 23, Muhyiddin said a more comprehensive stimulus package would be unveiled on March 30 that would offer mid-term measures to strengthen the economy.

He said the measures to be announced would help strengthen the economy and provide some guarantee to the lives of the people.

smack, i just whack 2 buzzing fly. damn

Yeah i saw those fly parking on top of cow manure, yuck. Better use covid 19 vaccine to spray them, cause big chance those bull manure fly infected by covid 19. spshhhhh.... got another one

官讲的话也可以听，猪母也会爬上树了！总之就别期望太高！

US Vaccine will arrive in September the earliest. China version may come a bit earlier.

By the time the vaccine comes, the virus might have mutated until vaccine(niah ma) also cannot recognize.

oh look guys, there is a fly buzzing around, smack... hehe

Agreed with you guys.

The only different is you are holding stock and add more .
I do not hold stock and only will buy when Ageson reach the bottom, at the point it reverse to golden crossover.

The golden rule for TA is :

Buy on uptrend, not downtrend.
Buy on golden crossover, not death crossover.

I follow rule, that's the only different.

Very clever , so many sifu here........

Police in Kelantan, Pahang set up roadblocks, public advised to observe Movement Control Order

TUMPAT — Police roadblocks are in place in Kelantan and Pahang, throughout the duration of the nationwide Movement Control Order imposed by the government from March 18 to 31.

Kelantan deputy police chief SAC Abdullah Mohammad Piah said the roadblocks are in line with orders from the leadership at Bukit Aman, as part of efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“These roadblocks are aimed at preventing non-essential movement by the public. At this stage, we will not take any action. We are advising the public to be more responsible and heed the advice of the government, as we don’t want COVID-19 to spread further,” he said when met by reporters while checking on a roadblock set up in Pasir Pekan yesterday.

Abdullah said there was sufficient personnel to set up continuous roadblocks and undertake related monitoring in all jurisdictions within the state.

Face masks and hand sanitisers are being provided to police personnel on duty throughout the Movement Control Order.

“The health of personnel on duty is also being monitored continuously and if any of them experience a fever or a cold, they will be taken to hospital for treatment,” he added.

Meanwhile, in KUANTAN, police are urging the public to stay away from public spaces unless they have valid reasons to be in the area.

Pahang police chief Datuk Abd Jalil Hassan said many people stopped at road blocks had no valid justifications to be out in public.

“There are some who said they wanted to see what the situation was like in Kuantan town following the announcement of the Movement Control Order, and there were others who were intending to visit friends at their homes.

“We are advising the public to stay at home as per the government order. This two-week period is not the time to go on excursions or have fun get-togethers,” he said at a press conference yesterday, with Kuantan district police chief ACP Mohamad Noor Yusof Ali also present.

Abd Jalil also said that roadblocks would continue to be in place in all 11 districts in the state, for the entire duration of the Movement Control Order. Four roadblocks have been set up in each district.

He said that while members of the public are only being warned and advised when stopped at the roadblocks, he did not rule out the possibility of action being taken under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988, if individuals persisted in disobeying the order.

“Only those with good justifications such as employment at an organisation providing an essential service, the need for medical treatment or the need to buy food items, will be allowed in public places,” the police chief explained.

On a related matter, he said seven members of the Pahang police contingent were suspected COVID-19 cases and were currently undergoing self-quarantine for a 14-day period at their respective residences.

The seven individuals comprise five in Pekan and two in Temerloh. Those in Pekan had already been under quarantine for three days, while the individuals in Temerloh had been under quarantine for one day.

Ageson price is really stable now! yaaahooo

Rental rates hold on as bearish pressures build

RENTAL rates on residential properties remains steady in the first three months of this year despite a weaker economic environment and bearish capital markets.

Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA) president-elect Chan Ai Cheng said the ability to maintain rental rates is generally the preferred option among homeowners during unpredictable economic situations.

“A couple of years back, there was an adjustment in rental rates where they generally fell 20%. Rental rates have been steady since the past two years but have not gone back to where they were during good days,” she told The Malaysian Reserve.

For commercial properties, Chan said rental rates for offices depend very much on the location.

While new offices in prime locations continue to see growth in rental rates, she said, commercial units in second-tier locations are seeing some adjustments.

“It is an issue of the economy. When businesses are successful, they will expand which means they need bigger space. When the economy is bad and businesses are shrinking, there will be less demand for office space,” Chan said.

Generally, she said, people predict the outlook for the property market by looking at the performance of the local stock market.

The performance of Bursa Malaysia has been badly impacted by the spread of coronavirus pandemic.

The local bourse closed 24.4 points or 1.69% lower at 1,2419.43 yesterday, the lowest in nine years.

Commenting on the issue, Chan said the short-term rentals on Airbnb listings are the ones hit by the Covid-19 outbreak.

haha grocery department earn a lot triggered by covid19

Rental rates hold on as bearish pressures build

RENTAL rates on residential properties remains steady in the first three months of this year despite a weaker economic environment and bearish capital markets.

Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA) president-elect Chan Ai Cheng said the ability to maintain rental rates is generally the preferred option among homeowners during unpredictable economic situations.

“A couple of years back, there was an adjustment in rental rates where they generally fell 20%. Rental rates have been steady since the past two years but have not gone back to where they were during good days,” she told The Malaysian Reserve.

For commercial properties, Chan said rental rates for offices depend very much on the location.

While new offices in prime locations continue to see growth in rental rates, she said, commercial units in second-tier locations are seeing some adjustments.

“It is an issue of the economy. When businesses are successful, they will expand which means they need bigger space. When the economy is bad and businesses are shrinking, there will be less demand for office space,” Chan said.

Generally, she said, people predict the outlook for the property market by looking at the performance of the local stock market.

The performance of Bursa Malaysia has been badly impacted by the spread of coronavirus pandemic.

The local bourse closed 24.4 points or 1.69% lower at 1,2419.43 yesterday, the lowest in nine years.

Commenting on the issue, Chan said the short-term rentals on Airbnb listings are the ones hit by the Covid-19 outbreak.

another sharing happy reading

Budget 2020 likely to have changes

THE government is expected to make substantial changes to Budget 2020 as global and local economic outlook deteriorates, battered by tumbling oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic.

Economists, however, believe that the budget is unlikely to be expansionary, taking the recent oil prices into consideration.

“At this point, given the oil price slump and markedly lower revenue, Malaysia’s government does not have the luxury to raise its spending significantly enough to help offset the slowdown in private sector demand,” OCBC Bank (M) Bhd economist Wellian Wiranto told The Malaysian Reserve (TMR).

“We are not likely to see “expansionary” budget, making it even more important for the finance minister to use whatever space he has in a judicious way,” he added.

Expansionary budget would mean higher government expenditure, thus Wiranto feels that Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz is likely to focus on helping manufacturers and exporters that have been hit by both supply chain disruption and demand slowdown.

“There might be some tweaks to the RM20 billion stimulus package with perhaps more help for broader industries.

“Instead of the focus on the tourism sector, which was hit by the first wave of the viral outbreak given the demand slowdown, we would see targeted measures for the manufacturing and exports industries this time around,” Wiranto said.

In terms of credit profile, OCBC does not think deficit will be ballooned up to warrant any immediate ratings downgrade by the major rating agencies.

In terms of policy actions, the bank still sees the brunt of the adjustment coming from the central bank front, due to relatively more ammunition.

“We see a high chance of another Overnight Policy Rate cut when Bank Negara Malaysia meets next in May, for instance,” he added.

Job losses may be imminent due to the economic challenges, but the damage might be contained by policy measures.

Meanwhile, Maybank Investment Bank Bhd group chief economist Suhaimi Ilias said there is a risk of job losses in Malaysia’s hardest-hit sectors such as aviation, hotels, food and beverage and retail.

“One thing for sure, there will be no new hires anytime soon,” he said.

Suhaimi added that there might be a need to recalibrate Budget 2020 that was, among others, based on average full-year crude oil assumption of US$62 (RM264) per barrel.

The Malaysian government had revised its national budget before, where Budget 2016 was revised via RM8 billion-RM9.5 billion spending cuts to keep budget deficit to GDP ratio target at 3.1%.

“We can see the same method to be applied if the crude oil price assumption for this year’s budget of US$62 per barrel is revised downwards and oil-related revenues are lower than originally expected, without compensating or offsetting increases in other sources of tax and non-tax revenues,” Suhaimi said.

“At this juncture, ensuring implementation of the measures in the stimulus package is of great importance and urgency,” he told TMR.

The formation of the new Cabinet will help reduce implementation risk. According to him, the package can be adjusted and enhanced to provide further reliefs for businesses.

Suhaimi said the government may want to consider lengthening the period for financial and fiscal reliefs and stimulus, as currently most measures are for the period of March or April until August or September this year.

ckup ckup all the way..come sell all to me.

power power power ,discount discount discount! thanks

Yes, just keep on the good work. power power power

Price come down? tp 0.3? Nice, i will clean more up for future use. Thanks for those selling it so cheap to me.

going down

Macroeconomic stability drives Malaysia's economic growth

KUALA LUMPUR: Macroeconomic stability will drive Malaysia’s economic growth this year with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of between 4.4 per cent and 4.9 per cent easily achievable, said IQI Global chief economist Shan Saeed.

The country he said, will continue to be on the global investors’ radar due to its solid economic position and importance in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Shan even predicted the ringgit to improve to RM3.97 against the US dollar this year.

“The global economy is heading for a major slowdown but despite this, Malaysia’s economy would demonstrate economic confidence due to strong productivity,” he told Bernama, adding that the country still has macroeconomic stability elements of political and economic stability, policy certainty and economic confidence.

He applauded the government’s move to align herself with a technology-driven approach with the strategic intent to enhance productivity through innovation and technology.

“Government is cognizant of the fact that adopting technology will bolster growth in the country and in the Asean region.

Fifth-generation wireless technology (5G), electric vehicle (EV) and artificial intelligence (AI) are on the top of the government main agenda at the moment.

“Top Chinese technology companies like Alibaba and Huawei are already here in Malaysia since they fathom the government’s initiative and encouragement,” he said.

In the next 5-10 years, Shan said technology-savvy labour force would drive the GDP growth trajectory for many economies globally including Malaysia.

“There’s going to be a massive capital expenditure investment in communication like 5G, EV and AI in the Asia Pacific region and the growth rate can be higher in the coming years. Technology is the key variable to achieve solid economic growth in the next 3-5 years,” he added.

Shan who has more than 19 years of financial market experience, especially in private banking, risk/compliance management, commodity investments, global economy, brand and business strategy, is confident that Malaysia continues to be on global investor’s radar due to her strategic geography and an important player in the BRI equation.

“Strait of Malacca provides a huge strategic competitive advantage to Malaysia’s geographical significance. Refined and sophisticated investors value Malaysia’s geography due to world-class port structure benefits in the region.

“ASEAN requires US$1.2 trillion in infrastructure investment which has a direct correlation with GDP growth rate,” he shared.

Meanwhile on the ringgit, Shan believed the local note would be trading between 3.97 and 4.30 against the US dollar, a forecast based on the premise that the greenback would depreciate further in 2020 due to election year in the United States.

“The US Federal Reserve (Fed) is going to reduce interest rates close to zero since it’s an election year and Trump (Donald J. Trump, US current president) is going to push Powell (Fed’s chairman Jerome Powell).

“Perusing history, Nixon (Richard Nixon, the US 37th president) and Reagan (Ronald Wilson Reagan, US 40th president) did the same to win elections in the 70s and 80s. US dollar is heading for tail-end risk and getting lowered in its value against a basket of currencies,” he added. -- Bernama

Prospect
.........

Despite the slow economic growth in Malaysia, the Group will continue to actively participate in open biddings of both public and private projects to replenish the order book given the Group vast experience and competitiveness in the construction segment. In addition, the Group's total order book of RM1.4 billion as at the reporting date is expected to sustain its operations over the next two years.


Nevertheless, management is still involved with the investment enters JV to develop Langat 2 water treatment plant.The project, which was awarded to PCB on June 25, 2019, is worth RM24.9 million.

Ageson is entitled to 92.5% of the contract sum and will be funding the working capital for the project, while QSE will be the contract manager for the water treatment plant and water reticulation system. Meanwhile, Esa Pile is the project manager and contractor.

The JV will last for two years and is set to be completed in the third quarter of 2021 (3Q21).

Adding up with ECRL project, Ageson is going into bull charging mode!

Add more Ageson shares while stock last!!!!

hold too long. any suggestion?

God Bless

“May your Sunday be blessed with love, joy, peace and happiness.” God Bless Ageson

dream on