KUALA LUMPUR: Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) has confirmed that the Finance Ministry has extended a further RM500 million in loan to help ease its cashflow.
In a statement today, Felda said it owed money to suppliers and contractors who had been replanting oil palms, harvesting the oil palm fruits and transporting them to the mills for Felda settlers.
Felda assured the payment to suppliers and contractors will be executed in stages starting, next week.
Felda said it was prioritising cashflow restoration to ensure payment delay did not happen again.
Last month, Felda director-general Datuk Dr Othman Omar, in an interview with the New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd, said the agency had received approval for a total of RM577 million in soft loans from the Finance Ministry.
He said RM77 million in loan had been extended to Felda settlers’ as “elaun sara hidup” for November and December 2018.
Othman had also said Felda needed a further RM500 million loan from the ministry to help ease its cashflow this year.