KUCHING: Sarawak Manufacturers Association (SMA) welcomes the federal government’s special stimulus package for small and medium enterprise (SMEs) announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin recently.
Its president, Joseph Lau, said that the federal government’s review to increase wage subsidy limit from 100 to 200 workers per company showed that the government was concerned for the needs of employers such as SMEs.
“We believe that smaller SMEs would benefit from the wage subsidy, whereas those with larger workforces might still struggle.
“We also request the government to consider removing the condition for companies to report a 50 percent reduction in revenue in order to qualify for the subsidy as well as for the employees to earn below RM4,000 each,” he said in a press statement, yesterday.
Lau also added that the association would continue to appeal to the government to remove this condition as many companies might not qualify.
“We request the government to consider amending the condition for companies to report a 25 percent reduction in revenue starting from March 1 instead of Jan 1 in order that more companies would qualify or waive the condition to report a 50 percent reduction in revenue starting from Jan 1 for companies with more than 75 workers,” he said.
Lau was relieved that the government was encouraging discussion between employers and employees concerning options such as pay cuts and unpaid leave during the movement control order (MCO) period.
“It gives employers some flexibility to engage with employees to cope with this turbulent time,” he said.
SMA also requested the federal government to consider the following:
• Exempt manufacturing industry from sales tax and all indirect tax at least until the end of 2020 to reduce the cost of inputs and ease cash outflow.
• The Ministry of Finance revises the Group Loss Relief until 2021 for all sectors and extends the time limit for carrying forward tax losses and incentives from seven years to 10 years starting from 2021.
• The federal government to consider that the employer’s EPF contribution of 13 percent of employee’s salary be temporarily waived for the next six months.
• The federal government to consider reducing corporate tax rate for 2020.
• The federal government to waive or reduce SST payment for a period of six months to one year.
• Lastly, the federal government’s stamp duty charges should be temporarily waived for selected instruments such as mortgage agreements, sale of shares, etc.
In addition, Lau also called on employers and SMEs to think of ways to resume operations and to stand united in the fight against Covid-19.
