JOHOR BARU, March 4 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced today that the self-employed can now apply for loans for the Perbadanan Pr1ma Malaysia Berhad (PR1MA) housing scheme through the Housing Credit Guarantee Scheme (SJKP).

He said SJKP — which is fully owned by the Ministry of Finance — allowed greater flexibility for young people interested in buying their first home as it did not have the stringent requirements of conventional home financing, and therefore, would benefit entrepreneurs as well as gig economy workers.

"This effort is in line with the announcement made during Budget 2022 last year where a total of RM2 billion was allocated to SJKP to implement this mandate,” he said during his visit to Residensi Larkin Indah here today.

"This proves the government’s commitment to seeing Malaysian families gain access to housing financing such as PR1MA more easily and widely.

Ismail Sabri also said that Residensi Larkin Indah buyers would be the first to be offered this form of financing before it was expanded to other PR1MA projects.

Also present at the event were Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican, Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim and PR1MA chairman Fathul Bahri Mat Jahya.

PR1MA is a government-owned corporation that aims to plan, develop, construct, and maintain high-quality housing for middle-income households in key urban areas and sell it to first-time Malaysian buyers.