Budget 2023: RM10 billion loan fund to realise automation, digitalisation of SME - lecturer

Focus

08 Oct 2022 12:28pm

Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz (standing) - BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR - The offer of loan funds to encourage automation and digitalisation activities among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is able to boost their business to a higher level.

Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (Usim) Faculty of Economics and Business senior lecturer Associate Prof Dr Nuradli Ridzwan Shah Mohd Dali said it would be more effective if the loan fund could offer zero interest rate to its borrowers.

"Another aspect is the need to take advantage of local expertise, either from local or foreign companies for the digitalisation and automation process. SMEs need to take the opportunity for the digitalisation process, before going into automation which in business terms is called e-business, which is the result of the transformation from e-commerce to e-business.

"So there are three processes, brick and mortar to e-commerce, or digitalisation then e-business," he told Bernama.

Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz when presenting Budget 2023 at the Dewan Rakyat yesterday said besides micro-financing, the government also provides loans to support small and medium-sized companies.

Tengku Zafrul said through Bank Negara Malaysia, a RM10 billion loan fund was provided to encourage the automation and digitalisation of SMEs as well as supporting the food security agenda and the recovery of the tourism sector.

Meanwhile, Kelab Belia Prihatin president Luqman Hakim Md Zim said the e-Startup initiative implemented by the government can ease the financial burden of recipients affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

"In addition, the initiative can encourage cashless spending and cashless transactions by physical businesses," he said.

The e-Pemula programme is a special Cashless Transaction Scheme for youth aged 18 to 20 and full-time students in higher education institutions.

Tengku Zafrul in tabling Budget 2023 said the e-Pemula initiative with an allocation of RM400 million is continued with the amount of credit increased from RM150 to RM200 which will benefit two million youth.

In order to cultivate cashless payments, Tengku Zafrul said the M40 e-Pemula initiative will be implemented, which is an e-wallet credit offer of RM100 to the M40 group with an annual income of less than RM100,000 and will benefit a total of eight million eligible individuals involving an allocation of RM800 million. - BERNAMA