FORMER Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has met Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to seek more monetary relief for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), who he claims are struggling despite the country’s economy growing by 5.6% in the first half of this year.
Lim claimed that MSMEs continue to struggle due to the rise in living costs and additional taxation burdens.
He proposed to Anwar that, among six recommendations, there was a need for banks to understand that they can afford to provide relief to their MSME customers because the lenders have collectively recorded a pre-tax profit of RM54.8 billion last year.
"There is ample room to allow some relief to the MSMEs," said Lim in a letter.
He sought the finance ministry to approve an interest-free loan sum of up to RM50 billion to allow the MSMEs room to settle their debts and to expand their concerns.
Lim also urged Anwar to temporarily scrap the requirement for local employers to contribute two per cent of their foreign workers' wages to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
The threshold requirement for e-invoicing under the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) should be raised to RM5 million, said Lim, the Bagan Member of Parliament and DAP adviser.
According to him, there are about 100,000 MSMEs in the country now.
Their role in growing the economy cannot be disputed, as they account for 38 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the country.
Lim also said that the intake of foreign workers should be digitalised to prevent abuse and leakages, while entry examinations for public tertiary education should be uniform, unlike now, where there is one country but three educational systems. - July 24, 2026.
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