CORONAVIRUS | The government will be hard-pressed financially to fulfil its plan to pay RM600 a month to workers forced to go on unpaid leave, said former domestic trade minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

He said this is because oil prices have fallen to around US$30 per barrel, which is half of what was projected when Budget 2020 was crafted last October.

"This will see a huge drop in government revenue, maybe around an estimated RM10 billion loss of revenue if prices remain in this current range...