KUCHING: The Association of Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sarawak (ACCCIS) welcomes the allocation of RM100 million under the small and medium enterprise (SME) grant scheme to support business automation and digitalisation activities.
Its secretary-general Datuk Jonathan Chai Chai said, , “We welcome some of the measures introduced in this budget, especially the facilities to be made available to SMEs.
“The announcement that the tax rates for SMEs and even for the M40 group will be cut is a positive sign,” he said when contacted by New Sarawak Tribune yesterday (Feb 24).
He was pleased that the government would continue to provide various loan and financing facilities worth up to RM40 billion for MSME entrepreneurs.
He noted that Syarikat Jaminan Pembiayaan Perniagaan (SJPP) would provide guarantees of up to RM20 billion for SME financing while the MSME tax rate on chargeable income for the first RM150,000 would be reduced from 17 to 15 per cent.
“Another feature of this budget is the attention given to corruption and the commitment to address the leakages in subsidies,” he added.
Chai was happy that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had pledged his Unity Government would implement institutional reforms and good management to curb systemic corruption and embezzlement.
“Anwar has also highlighted, among others, that there were leakages in diesel subsidy with diesel worth RM10 billion misappropriated in 2022, and the 2020, 2021 Auditor General’s Report revealed RM3 billon in leakages including loss of public money, wastages and improper payments,” he said.
Yesterday, Anwar, while presenting Budget 2023 in Parliament, said the government was allocating RM100 million under the SME grant scheme to support business automation and digitalisation activities.
Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister, said businesses should quickly adopt digital technology to widen the market for their products and services.
He added funds totalling RM1 billion would also be provided under Bank Negara Malaysia to assist the micro, small and medium enterprises to automate and digitalise their operations.
