Image credit: The Sun Daily
ON Dec 20, I represented the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) during the winding-up session for the policy stage debate of the Supply Bill 2022 in the Dewan Negara.
Senator Datuk Arman Azha Abu Hanifah sought clarification on the Government’s measures to restore the confidence of large corporations that have invested in Malaysia and the Government’s measures to attract new companies to return to invest in Malaysia.
I stated that among the latest measures being actively implemented by the Government through Miti to attract the growth of high value investments from multinational companies include:
a) Introduction of a new investment policy based on the National Investment Aspirations (NIA) which targets high quality capital and technology intensive investments based on environmental, social and governance (ESG);
b) Leverage on existing free trade agreements particularly in terms of investment generation and wider market access as well as expediting the ratification of the RCEP;
c) Organise trade and investment missions to attract investment in high value and high-technology industries;
d) Provide continuous and comprehensive facilitation to investors through the one-stop centre for business travellers (OSC) through Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) to assess the applications of eligible business visitors to enter Malaysia for trade and investment purposes.
All these Government initiatives have succeeded in showing encouraging investment performance where the period from January to September 2021 recorded the highest investments since 2015.
A total of 3,037 projects were approved with total investments of RM177.8bil and are expected to generate 79,899 new jobs. Of the total investments, RM106.1bil or 59.7% were foreign investments.
In fact, total investments approved recorded an increase of 51.5% from the total investments approved for the same period in 2020.
To ensure that Malaysia is on a strong footing and achieves sustainable long-term economic growth, the following initiatives have been implemented by Mida:
a) Offer special tax exemption packages under the National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana) to encourage foreign companies to relocate their operations to Malaysia or establish new operations;
b) Establishment of a digital investment office (DIO) on 22 April 2021 through a joint venture between Mida and the Malaysian Digital Economic Corporation (MDEC) to facilitate digital investments;
c) Introduce a special tax exemption package for manufacturers of pharmaceutical products including vaccines under Budget 2021 to attract investments in this sector.
With regards to the government’s efforts to assist local industries affected by the Covid-19 pandemic raised by Datuk Mohan Thangarasu, the government’s initiatives are as follows:
a) Miti through Mida has provided an RM2bil Special Strategic Investment Fund to attract foreign investments, complement the industries’ value chain and generate knowledge -based employments as well as local SME development opportunities;
b) In terms of enhancing automation and digitisation, an additional allocation of RM45mil for the Industry4WRD Policy programme of which RM37.5mil has been earmarked for the intervention fund programme for a period of two years which can be enjoyed by SME companies that have undergone readiness assessment for the implementation of the Transition to Industry 4.0 Intervention Plan to be more productive and competitive in the global value chain;
c) In an effort to strengthen the financing of capital expenditure and industrial cash flow, a matching grant of RM100mil will be provided to assist Bumiputera aerospace industry MSMEs covering financing of industrial development, adaptation of new technologies and capital expenditure as well as addressing cash flow problems for a period of two years (2022 -2023);
d) The Safe@Work initiative was introduced to promote best manufacturing practices in addressing Covid-19. The initiative, which has been extended until 2022, offers additional tax deductions to companies in the manufacturing and related services sectors of up to RM50,000;
e) To strengthen the halal industry, a total of RM25mil has been allocated to the Halal Development Corporation (HDC) to implement various initiatives to increase the competitiveness of the halal industry including the Halal Product Digital Branding SME programme and the Halal Product Marketability Enhancement MSMEs programme;
f) The eTrade programme under the supervision of Matrade is an initiative to intensify the use of e-commerce platforms among local companies.
Miti remains committed towards implementing programmes and initiatives to accelerate economic recovery
Datuk Lim Ban Hong
Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister
Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2021/12/22/miti-committed-towards-programmes-and-initiatives-to-accelerate-economic-recovery