PETALING JAYA: The Small and Medium Enterprises Association (Samenta) has welcomed Putrajaya’s Budget 2022, particularly thanking the government for heeding its call for a wage subsidy in rehiring workers.
Its chairman William Ng congratulated the finance ministry for a “pro-growth budget”, which he said would support businesses in the post-pandemic recovery phase.
He told FMT that small and medium enterprises would be relieved that no new taxes were being imposed on businesses as they were only just getting back on their feet.
“We are glad that the government has heeded our plea for a wage subsidy for the rehiring of workers, which has now been announced as Jamin Kerja, with a subsidy of up to 30%.
“For SMEs that are cash strapped, we are happy that the government has announced measures such as instalment of corporate income tax, as well as additional funds under the Targeted Relief and Recovery Facility as part of the SemarakNiaga initiative.”
While he was disappointed that Putrajaya did not take up Samenta’s proposal for 30% of government procurement to be allotted to SME vendors, he hoped it would still be implemented.
In announcing the budget today, finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz also said RM4.8 billion would be allocated for a job guarantee programme to create 600,000 jobs.
He also announced an allocation of RM40 billion for funding programmes for entrepreneurs, which includes interest-free grants up to RM10,000 from Tekun.
Source: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/10/29/thanks-for-hearing-our-plea-on-rehiring-workers-say-smes/