KUALA LUMPUR: Over 37,000 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and some 200 sports-related companies have shut down their businesses following the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent movement restrictions, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Entrepreneur development and cooperatives minister Noh Omar said a total of 37,415 businesses had to cease operations after the third round of the movement control order (MCO 3.0) was enforced in May this year.
“A majority of them were micro-businesses, which came to a total of 26,007. This was followed by some 2,738 SMEs,” he said.
Noh was responding to a question by Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) who wanted to know how many entrepreneurs were forced out of business following the health crisis.
Meanwhile, deputy youth and sports minister Ti Lian Ker said 200 sports-related companies were forced to shut down last year as they could no longer support the cost of running their business.
“A majority of them were those who operated fitness centres and wholesalers,” he said in response to a question by Noor Amin Ahmad (PH-Kangar).
Ti also revealed that 93.2% of sports industry players were affected by the movement restrictions, with 58.8% stating that they needed financial assistance to run their business and daily operations.