Almost 90% of Malaysians Choose to Defer Loan Payments, AKPK Poll Finds | Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 – According to an online survey by the Credit Counseling and Debt Management Agency (AKPK), 88%, or 1,648 of 1,873 people polled, opted to postpone financial repayments within the framework of the moratorium established by Bank Negara.

AKPK’s financial education department, head of the module’s development unit, Nirmala Supramaniam, said a survey of 788 respondents who signed up to the moratorium found that 48% or 378 of they wanted to create an emergency fund.

“Some took the moratorium to spend the money on basic necessities and they represented 21% or 165 of the respondents; for investment purposes 16 percent (126), for additional borrowing 11 percent (87) and four percent (32) had no plan.

“However, the poll results do not reflect the actual overall situation as they were random polls conducted online through AKPK Faceboook and the AKPK microsite, #askAKP from April to May,” she told Bernama. after appearing as a guest on the Ruang Bicara talk show on Bernama TV last night.

Meanwhile, Nirmala said the AKPK survey also found that the level of financial stress increased by 35% among those working during the recent Movement Control Order (MCO) period.

She said this happened because the MCO and the Covid-19 pandemic were unprecedented and many were unprepared in terms of emergency savings. – Bernama