KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of International Trade and Industry is proposing more fund allocation and tax incentives to support the SMEecosystem, said Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.

He said the ministry would draft a proposal on stepping up the small-and-medium enterprise (SME) agenda, to be submitted to the Prime Minister for the 2017 Budget.

“We realise that SMEs are the backbone of the Malaysian economy as it provides jobs to many. SME companies need more exposure for their products which can eventually enter the export market,” he told reporters after a dialogue at the Initial Public Offering Seminar 2016

He said developed countries such as the United States and Japan were already ahead in the area of empowering their SMEs and Malaysia should follow in their footsteps.

The half-day seminar, attended by over 100 representatives of local SMEs, was jointly organised by SME Corporation Malaysia, Bursa Malaysia, MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd and the Bumiputera Agenda Steering Unit to provide participants with pertinent information on the key aspects of a listing process.

Mustapa said today’s event, the fifth edition since its commencement in 2011, would also be expanded to Sabah and Sarawak to encourage SMEs there to consider IPO as a fund raising exercise.

Meanwhile, SME Corporation Chairman Tan Sri Mohamed Al Amin Abdul Majid was confident that local SMEs would rise to the occasion and tide over the current volatile economic situation.

“In this regard, SMEs should look at the current situation as an opportunity to prepare themselves for the economic recovery, expected to begin in 2017 or 2018.

“Within the said context, today’s seminar serves as an early preparation for SMEs to integrate themselves into the higher value chain, which includes listing on Bursa Malaysia,” he added. –Bernama