The Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia, or SAMENTA, Malaysia’s oldest and largest association of SMEs, has commended Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, for taking note of the plight and aspirations of the 1 million SMEs in the country.
“We congratulate the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance for presenting a budget that’s well-balanced while addressing the various pressing issues affecting businesses, our institutions, and the rakyat,” said Datuk William Ng, SAMENTA chairman, in a statement.
In particular, SAMENTA has requested for an increase in the threshold for the proposed tax reduction for businesses. The Prime Minister has announced that the first RM 150,000 of taxable income will now attract a lower tax rate of 15% instead 17%.
This is a 50% increase in threshold from that proposed in November. This effectively reduces the tax contribution per SME by an additional RM 1,000 or a total of RM 3,000 – which can then be used to finance much-needed investments in digitalisation and automation.
According to Ng, the bottleneck for most SMEs is their aging equipment and machineries, and the lack of digitalisation and automation. “We are therefore grateful that the Prime Minister has taken note of these challenges, and allocated RM 40 billion in various financing facilities and guarantee schemes for SMEs.”
In the immediate term, the SMEs need to be helped to navigate the difficult transition to a low carbon economy. Ng welcome the RM2 billion funds allocated to support sustainable start-ups and to help SMEs adopt low carbon practice.
This is ground-breaking and is sending a strong signal, that not only is the government committed to helping SMEs face what they must, but is assigning money for that purpose.
SAMENTA has also asked that the government re-iterate that there will be no further hike of electricity tariff for SMEs this year, to help SMEs better plan their costs and weather the current inflationary pattern. “We are grateful that the Prime Minister has once again pledged the same in the just re-tabled Budget 2023,” he said.
The Prime Minister has called for all Malaysians, including businesses, politicians and the civil service to have faith that Malaysia can create a miracle and overcome our economic challenges.
As the largest association for SMEs, Ng noted SAMENTA is committed to playing its part to support the Prime Minister in his efforts to rebuild the economy.
