THE Ministry of International Trade, Industry and Investment will develop a master plan as an effort to enhance the competitiveness of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Sarawak.
Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said the master plan will develop strategies and action plans to address the identified challenges as well as to promote entrepreneurs’ growth, competitiveness, and sustainability within each sector.
“In Malaysia, MSMEs form an integral part of the economy by constituting up to 97.4 per cent total business establishments.
“The contribution of MSMEs to Malaysian Growth Domestic Product (GDP) is 38.4 per cent, providing 48.2 per cent of employment opportunities. These numbers can be significantly higher when informal sectors are included.
“For Sarawak, the Department of Statistics Malaysia reported that the number of business establishments for MSMEs increased from 61,036 in 2015 to 83,708 in 2022.
“These establishments comprise 81.5 per cent micro enterprises, 16.7 per cent small enterprises and 1.8 per cent medium enterprises, and this indicates that the MSMEs are resilient in countering the unprecedented aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Awang Tengah, who is also the Deputy Premier, said this when delivering his ministerial winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly sitting on Wednesday (Nov 29).
Therefore, he said the ministry will continue to nurture and support the growth of the MSMEs to harness their economic potential as they are the key drivers of socioeconomic growth and job creation in the state.
“The MSMEs will be assisted through various financial assistance, and the financial assistance offered by my ministry under the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) totalled RM166mil for six programmes.”
He added that to date, more than 7,300 businesses have benefitted from these financial assistance totalling RM155.67mil.
“My ministry has also recently launched a collaboration between InvestSarawak, United Nations Global Compact Network for Malaysia & Brunei and Alliance Bank to provide RM1bil of green financing to all Sarawakian MSMEs towards adopting sustainable business practices in Environment, Social and Governance (ESG).”
