KUALA LUMPUR: The government is set to generate 500,000 job opportunities this year through the National Employment Council (NEC), despite the highly challenging environment.
Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the government had helped to save 2.7 million jobs through the wage subsidy program worth RM14.4 billion.
The government also managed to reduce the unemployment rate from 5.3 per cent in May 2020 to 4.8 per cent in December 2020, said Tengku Zafrul.
"Moving forward, the main focus throughout 2021 will be prioritising direct and indirect assistance to alleviate the burden faced by the people. The welfare of the people needs to be better protected, especially those in the informal economy.
"A study conducted in PPR (People's Housing Project) areas found that there were still those who did not receive assistance because they were not registered with any government agency involved in channelling assistance," he said in the 44th Implementation and Coordination Unit Between National Agencies (Laksana) report today.
Meanwhile, Tengku Zafrul said the government will continue to drive the Malaysian Digitisation process to achieve the objectives of the Malaysian Digital Economy Blueprint and the MyDigital initiative.
He said the government must act immediately to speed up the use of 5G so that the country did not fall behind.
"The total investment requirement for the 5G infrastructure project is estimated at RM15 billion involving infrastructure costs as well as annual operation and maintenance over the project for 10 years. A more accurate costing will be known after the open tender process, which will begin soon.
"Digital Nasional Bhd will evaluate innovative options to create a cost effective financing structure that can be used for such infrastructure projects. It is expected that this will be privately funded through a Public-Private Partnership agreement," he said.
Tengku Zafrul also said that the government would focus on transforming government-linked companies (GLCs) to redefine the direction of the vision and mission of the companies involved, especially after the country was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
"For the government, it has been a challenging one year dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. However, this has never been an obstacle to ensure the welfare and well-being of the people.
"Assisting in the business recovery for the small and medium enterprise sectors and accelerating projects that will drive the recovery and development of the Malaysian economy," he added.
Source: https://www.nst.com.my/business/2021/03/672947/malaysia-create-500000-jobs-year-tengku-zafrul