Digital Ministry to seek incentives and talent support for MSMEs in Budget 2025

The Star

Incentives and talent support to empower small businesses are among matters highlighted during the Digital Ministry's Budget 2025 engagement session with stakeholders, says Gobind Singh Deo.  The Digital Minister said the stakeholders raised the possibility of government incentives to encourage the use of technology by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).  Read more at https://shorturl.at/FFzf4  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00We are here at the session to get an insight from the investors and industry players

00:09for the 2023 budget for the Ministry of Digital.

00:13A lot of people have called us to give their insights,

00:17especially on what we need to do next year.

00:23And in this matter, what are their requests

00:27so that they can be given funds to support our plan for next year.

00:36I see two things that are given,

00:38one is how we can provide support to industries,

00:43especially SMEs and MSMEs,

00:46in terms of incentives so that they can use new technology

00:53to strengthen their business.

00:55I think everyone understands that in this digital world,

00:59we all know that technology can help our business.

01:01But the question is, if we have the infrastructure,

01:04if the infrastructure is safe,

01:06but if there is no one using the infrastructure,

01:09that will be a problem.

01:10So from that point of view,

01:12can the government see how incentives can be used

01:17so that we can encourage more small businesses,

01:21small industries to use the existing technology.

01:24I will bring that matter forward

01:27so that we can discuss it with the Ministry of Finance,

01:31the first Minister of Finance,

01:34so that a decision can be made

01:36as far as we can give incentives.

01:38Whether those incentives are in terms of taxation or other incentives,

01:45we will see.

01:46I will bring that matter forward.

01:47As a minister, I want to emphasize once again

01:50that we need to ensure that the infrastructure we have is extensive

01:56and can be used by the entire Malaysian population.

02:00But I also understand that we need to give incentives

02:04to ensure that all businesses can use the infrastructure

02:07and in that situation, we will see that our digital economy is moving.

02:14The second aspect that I see is related to the need for us to focus on talent.

02:20So if we have this infrastructure,

02:22we can convince the entire Malaysian population to use this infrastructure.

02:27The question is, how can we ensure that in the next five years,

02:31we can ensure that the talents that we need

02:34will be available in the next five years.

02:43So the question is, how can we see after level 5,

02:48maybe there will be a program where they can conduct training

02:54in the industries that require talent in the future.

02:58But while they are conducting training,

03:01they are working in the industry or the factory.

03:05This is what I call a digital divide.

03:09We want to see in the next five years,

03:11what are the jobs that we will see an increase in demand.

03:18And in that situation, we have to ensure that we have enough workers

03:26for each aspect of the job.

03:28So the question that arises today is, what is the government's plan

03:31to ensure that this gap can be resolved.

03:38And that is one of the things that is being discussed by my government now.

03:43We are in the process of implementing policies.

03:46But the question is, is the government ready to provide financial incentives

03:51so that we can encourage more industries to hire more workers

03:58and conduct training at the same time.

04:00So that we can ensure that in the next two or three years,

04:03they will be able to conduct training,

04:05and at the same time, they will be able to receive education,

04:07diploma, and license.

04:09And after that, they will be able to get a decent salary

04:14in these new sectors and industries.

04:17This is a fairly extensive discussion.

04:20But I think it highlights how we can strengthen our strengths

04:25in terms of talent, in terms of our availability

04:29in terms of platform and infrastructure.

04:33It is a fairly good discussion.

04:35And even if the incentives have been rejected,

04:37I will bring it to the Minister of Finance to discuss.

04:41I hope that the requests of the industry and my ministry

04:45can be given consideration

04:47and can be implemented in the next 10 months.

04:54Mr. YB, the pressure is given to incentives.

04:57Does this mean that the previous incentives were not enough?

05:00I think that the previous incentives were given.

05:04But we see that the pressure is given to how it is necessary

05:08for more businesses to switch to using technology

05:14to strengthen their businesses.

05:16So, in terms of scale, it is indeed wider.

05:20In that case, the question that arises is

05:23can we see how what was given in the past can be increased

05:29so that we can attract more people to take part

05:33in the new digital economy,

05:36switching from the old way of business to the new way of business,

05:40which is digital business.

05:42So, I think what is available now has indeed helped

05:45but moving forward, how can we expand it further

05:48so that we can attract more people

05:50to use the existing digital platforms.

05:54Mr. YB, there was a side effect earlier.

05:56Do you want to feel the impact of the T-VAT?

05:59Yes, this is one of the things that we work together with

06:02the Minister of Finance.

06:05I have also informed him that we look at the T-VAT aspect

06:10but from a digital perspective.

06:12I also gave him a statement on Wednesday.

06:16He said that he supports it.

06:21And after we have completed the process of preparing the policy,

06:28I will ask for a date for us to launch it.

06:31And it will be launched, I hope, at the end of September.

06:40And we will inform the press when we are ready.

06:44Okay, thank you very much.

Transcript

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