Give SME vendors 30 pct share of govt procurement - SAMENTA

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 (Bernama) -- The Small and Medium Enterprises Association Malaysia (SAMENTA) wants the government to set a target of having 30 per cent of all procurement by government departments as well as government and government-linked agencies come from small and medium enterprise (SME) vendors.

In a statement, Chairman for Policy and Government Relations Datuk William Ng said this would give the SMEs greater market access.

Presenting the association's wish list for Budget 2019, he also expressed hope that the government would retain the tax reduction scheme currently used in years of assessment 2017 and 2018 of between one and four per cent for any increase in chargeable income to stimulate greater growth among the SMEs.

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On manpower, Ng said the association wanted the government to consider making a 1 per cent additional contribution to the Employees Provident Fund accounts of all SME employees.

This, he explained, would counter the talent crunch that was inhibiting SME growth.

SAMENTA also wants the government to provide double tax deduction for the training of all SME employees and for the SMEs’ participation in career fairs in order to encourage capability development.

Ng said the association also hoped to see tax exemption for income of up to RM50,000 for all investors in peer-to-peer and equity crowdfunding to ensure greater flexibility and robustness of financing for the SMEs.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng is scheduled to present Budget 2019 in Parliament on Nov 2.

-- BERNAMA