Image credit: Malay Mail
KUALA LUMPUR: Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) need sufficient incentives to help them expand across Asean to build a regional supply chain, said Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia (Samenta) president Datuk William Ng.
Ng said the development of a regional supply chain is crucial, especially with the implementation of tariffs from the United States (US).
He said that discussions on trade often revolve around the impact of US tariffs but disregard China's economic expansion and its influence on Malaysian SMEs.
"There is much discussion about the impact of US tariffs generally, but not enough on China's impact on our SMEs, both as a competitive force and as a destination to offload some of China's excess inventory," he said.
Speaking at the 'Decoding Budget 2026: What It Means for Malaysia's Growth' forum organised by Hong Leong Bank, Ng said there are still insufficient incentives to help local SMEs expand their operations abroad.
He urged the government to develop policies that will "narrow the gap" between its goal of having a regional supply chain and efforts taken to allow local companies to widen their reach in the region.
"For example, if I am a furniture manufacturer from Malaysia, operating from Indonesia because of the availability of raw materials or workers, I am not going to get any help from the government simply because I am not operating in Malaysia.
"There is a disconnect between what the government says it wants to do, which is to build a regional supply chain, versus the way they are incentivising the right area," said Ng.
Source: https://www.nst.com.my/business/corporate/2025/10/1299852/smes-need-stronger-incentives-expand-across-asean-says-samenta