PM: Govt doubling efforts to digitalise Malaysia, stimulate economy
08 December 2020
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has adopted an inclusive and comprehensive approach to empowering the country's digitalisation agenda in line with one of the thrusts of the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the government will continue efforts towards digitalising Malaysia, with emphasis on accelerating the country's digital economy development and stimulating the economy post the Covid-19 pandemic.
Such efforts, said Muhyiddin, will help ensure economic sustainability and the wellbeing of the people who were not spared by the economic impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
"For example, the government is targeting to achieve 40 per cent in (public) delivery services 'End-to-End' (E2E) digital by end of this year, compared to 20.2 per cent in 2019.
"To achieve this target, the government has also set up the Digital Economy and Fourth Industrial Revolution Council.
"The council, which is chaired by myself, will also help ensure sustainable digital economic development for the benefit of all," he said in his speech at the launch of the MalaysiaBiz portal, held virtually today.
MalaysiaBiz is a one-stop portal providing business registration and licensing information and application for selected agencies, which was jointly developed by the Malaysia Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (Mampu), Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Ministry, SME Corp and strategic partners.
Muhyiddin, in his speech, also acknowledged the contribution of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in stimulating the country's economic growth and creating employment opportunities for the people.
SMEs, he said, contributed 38.9 per cent to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year, which is an increase of 0.6 per cent compared to 38.3 per cent in 2018.
He added that SMEs are projected to contribute 45 per cent towards Malaysia's GDP in 2025 and 50 per cent in 2030.
"Therefore, measures to accelerate the growth of SMEs in the country will continue to be given priority, taking into consideration e-commerce trends which show great potential for the sector.
"With that, the digitalisation process among businesses could also be simplified," he said.
Muhyiddin added that ensuring sustainability of businesses is one of the main thrusts of the 2021 Budget, which has proposed a generous allocation of RM322.5 billion.
"The funding assistance, training, digital equipment and grants under the 2021 Budget reflect the commitment by the government towards helping the SMEs.
"The government has also allocated RM1 billion to boost digitalisation activities, where the funds are available until Dec 31, 2023," he said.
The government, said Muhyiddin, has set aside RM150 million to carry out training programmes and provide assistance in sales as well as digital equipment procurement to 100,000 local entrepreneurs under the e-Commerce SME and Micro SME campaign.
"In addition, a total of RM4.6 billion has been allocated to empower Bumiputera entrepreneurs and provide special micro credit financing through Tekun (National Entrepreneurial Group Economic Fund), Mara (Majlis Amanah Rakyat) and AgroBank which benefits women entrepreneurs.
"All of these efforts reflect the commitment by the government to boost growth among SMEs and are in line with the framework and initiatives rolled out under the previous economic stimulus packages to cushion the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic," he said.
Source: NST
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the government will continue efforts towards digitalising Malaysia, with emphasis on accelerating the country's digital economy development and stimulating the economy post the Covid-19 pandemic.
Such efforts, said Muhyiddin, will help ensure economic sustainability and the wellbeing of the people who were not spared by the economic impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
"For example, the government is targeting to achieve 40 per cent in (public) delivery services 'End-to-End' (E2E) digital by end of this year, compared to 20.2 per cent in 2019.
"To achieve this target, the government has also set up the Digital Economy and Fourth Industrial Revolution Council.
"The council, which is chaired by myself, will also help ensure sustainable digital economic development for the benefit of all," he said in his speech at the launch of the MalaysiaBiz portal, held virtually today.
MalaysiaBiz is a one-stop portal providing business registration and licensing information and application for selected agencies, which was jointly developed by the Malaysia Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (Mampu), Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Ministry, SME Corp and strategic partners.
Muhyiddin, in his speech, also acknowledged the contribution of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in stimulating the country's economic growth and creating employment opportunities for the people.
SMEs, he said, contributed 38.9 per cent to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year, which is an increase of 0.6 per cent compared to 38.3 per cent in 2018.
He added that SMEs are projected to contribute 45 per cent towards Malaysia's GDP in 2025 and 50 per cent in 2030.
"Therefore, measures to accelerate the growth of SMEs in the country will continue to be given priority, taking into consideration e-commerce trends which show great potential for the sector.
"With that, the digitalisation process among businesses could also be simplified," he said.
Muhyiddin added that ensuring sustainability of businesses is one of the main thrusts of the 2021 Budget, which has proposed a generous allocation of RM322.5 billion.
"The funding assistance, training, digital equipment and grants under the 2021 Budget reflect the commitment by the government towards helping the SMEs.
"The government has also allocated RM1 billion to boost digitalisation activities, where the funds are available until Dec 31, 2023," he said.
The government, said Muhyiddin, has set aside RM150 million to carry out training programmes and provide assistance in sales as well as digital equipment procurement to 100,000 local entrepreneurs under the e-Commerce SME and Micro SME campaign.
"In addition, a total of RM4.6 billion has been allocated to empower Bumiputera entrepreneurs and provide special micro credit financing through Tekun (National Entrepreneurial Group Economic Fund), Mara (Majlis Amanah Rakyat) and AgroBank which benefits women entrepreneurs.
"All of these efforts reflect the commitment by the government to boost growth among SMEs and are in line with the framework and initiatives rolled out under the previous economic stimulus packages to cushion the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic," he said.
Source: NST