BINTULU: Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of the country’s economy.
Bintulu Resident Datuk Jack Aman Luat said in 2020, these enterprises contributed to 38.2 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He added that the MSMEs contributed to 48 percent of exports and created 45 percent of the jobs in the country.
“Based on the statistics in 2020, the number of MSMEs registered in the country is 1.15 million and of the total, almost seven percent or more than 70,000 are in Sarawak,” said Jack.
He was speaking at the “Program Sehari Bersama Usahawan (One-Day Programme with Enterpreneurs) jointly organised by SME Corp Malaysia Sarawak Office Branch and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Industrial Terminal and Entrepreneur Development (Mintred) Sarawak, at a hotel here on Saturday (Oct 23).
Jack added that the federal and state governments were committed to assisting and support the recovery of MSMEs affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The federal and state governments had spent millions of ringgit to help small and medium entrepreneurs through various assistance schemes,” he said.
He noted that the entrepreneurs were always keen to improve their knowledge on capacity building and productivity assistance offered by agencies such as SME Corp Malaysia, Mintred, Tekun Nasional, Insken, SEDC and TM.
Also present at the programme was SME Corp Malaysia Sarawak director Faiz Ramzi Sutarji.
