KOTA KINABALU – The Sabah Employers Association (SEA) hopes that the government will be able to address the state’s entrepreneurs-based economy and find measures to improve it under the upcoming Budget 2022.
Given the state’s gross domestic product having declined by 9.5% last year, the lowest among all states in the country, SEA president Yap Cheen Boon said budget measures should include extension of the liquidity assistance to businesses, most specifically wage subsidies and loan moratorium to ease businesses’ cash flow pressure next year.
“The Finance Ministry has advised that Malaysia’s Budget 2022 will focus on pandemic recovery, rebuilding national resilience and catalysing reforms.
“This will serve SMEs in Malaysia which have seen their share of the economy declining by 7.3% last year.
“Employment related initiatives must be continued to help Sabah bring down its highest-in-the-country 8% unemployment rate, including initiatives such as up-skill, re-skill and grants given to Sedia to implement, train and place programs within the state for unemployed locals,” he told The Vibes today.
Yap said industry specific measures should be extended to Sabah’s key sectors – tourism, agriculture, manufacturing and construction, which are now reeling from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said the budget formulation should focus on rebuilding employers’ resilience and reforming the economy, targeting driving business transformation, technology, digitalisation, productivity enhancement and innovation.
“Last but not least, regulatory constraints should also be eased during the recovery phase next year to avoid burdening SMEs with unnecessary compliance costs,” he said.
Unemployment and job creation
Sabah Malaysian Trades Union Congress secretary Catherine Jikunan said that the council has always been firm on calling for the government to strengthen job security for Sabah workers.
She noted there is a need for the government to look beyond re-skilling and training when crises like the Covid-19 pandemic strikes.
“At the end of the day, when people lose their jobs and go for re-skilling or training, they can’t put food on the table. All of these take time. There must be tangible solutions,” she said.
According to Jikunan, the wage subsidy introduced by the federal government to increase hiring seems to only have a temporary effect.
Citing hotels being closed down due to zero business, Jikunan noted that hotel workers are still being laid off in spite of their businesses being supported by such incentives.
“There’s a need for the Budget to provide more job security to the workers. Something that will allow them to still provide for their families even when times are bad,” she said, adding that incentivising SMEs can be one of the answers.
Jikunan said business resilience is important to ensure that workers can be retained when times have gone bad.
The federal government is expected to table the Budget 2022 this Friday. – The Vibes, October 26, 2021
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