KUCHING (Dec 1): Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia contributed 37.4 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) last year.
Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, who is also Minister of International Trade, Industry and Investment, said the country’s SMEs also provided 47.8 per cent of employment opportunities.
“SMEs are an integral part of our economy by contributing up to 97.4 per cent of total business establishments,” he said when delivering his winding-up speech today.
Awang Tengah quoted the World Bank Report last year; that SMEs accounted for 90 per cent of enterprises and 50 per cent of jobs worldwide.
“It is estimated that SMEs contribute to 40 per cent to national GDP in emerging economies.”
He thus said it was important that Sarawak continues to support and nurture the growth of SMEs so that their contributions can be further enhanced through implementation of various initiatives by the federal and Sarawak governments.
In Sarawak, he said the state government, through his ministry, would continue to provide soft loans at a low interest rate of four per cent based on monthly reducing balance through Skim Kredit Mikro Sarawak (SKMS) and Skim Pinjaman Industri Kecil dan Sederhana (SPIKS).
To date, RM76.06 million had been disbursed to benefit 1,965 SMEs, he said.
“This includes 437 B40 entrepreneurs who enjoy interest-free loans up to RM10,000 per applicant. Total loan approved for B40 entrepreneurs amounted to RM2.8 million,” he added.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, he said the Sarawak government had provided interest subsidy for three-and-half-years to eligible SMEs under SKMS and SPIKS.
Subsidy totalling RM6.48 million had benefited 1,387 SMEs, he said.
Besides the interest subsidies, Awang Tengah said the Sarawak government also provided moratorium for 12 months to 636 borrowers of SPIKS and SKMS valued at RM14.36 million.
Awang Tengah also said his ministry had been tasked to implement the Business Empowerment and Recovery Fund (BizFund) for business associations to organise capacity building and enterprises development programmes for their members.
He said to date, RM14.3 million had been spent for the implementation of 84 programmes benefiting 3,350 participants.
“Besides my ministry, other agencies such as SME Bank, SME Corp, Tekun Nasional, MPHLG, Fama, SEDC, SKM, SDEC, JKMS, Salcra and other agencies have also provided various assistance to our SMEs.
“More than RM590 million has been disbursed by these agencies to benefit more than 85,000 SMEs this year,” he added.
Source: https://www.theborneopost.com/2022/12/01/awg-tengah-swak-govt-continues-to-support-nurture-growth-of-smes/