NIMP to facilitate SME integration in supply chain: Tengku Zafrul
01 Sep 2023
The implementation of the New Industrial Master Plan (NIMP) is expected to facilitate the integration of small and medium enterprises (SME) in the supply chain ecosystem.
Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said NIMP 2030 would help share a more robust manufacturing sector to generate broad-based benefits for various stakeholders.
He said Malaysia is moving towards a liberal approach within its policies that will exert a positive spillover effect to the economy and people.
“When we make policy, especially at the ministry, what we want to see is that it ends up beneficial to the local companies, especially the SMEs in terms of the supply chain.
“Just like in the NIMP, we hope we can elevate the status of our SMEs so that they can be part of the supply chain as what the prime minister has said just now, we are now looking at targeting households to go up higher than what we have today,” he told the media at the launch of NIMP 2030 by Prime Minister datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim here today.
Tengku Zafrul said the government is willing to look at policies that are progressive which will result in a positive spillover effect to the Malaysian companies.
The government has earmarked close to 10 per cent of funding to propel the plan through the NIMP Industrial Development Fund and the NIMP Strategic Co-Investment Fund.
Tengku Zafrul added that the funding was derived from the government’s fiscal space, which is part of the development budget.
“Part of the details on this will be revealed during the 2024 Budget as the other part has been revealed previously to which we will elaborate further in the near future,” he said.
On private sector’s involvement, he said various stakeholders from the sector were involved in the negotiations and deliberations during the formulation of NIMP.
“The amount of money that we are looking at, also includes from the private sector, in this case both the capital markets and the financial institutions and then development financial institutions to how they can assist in this.”
He added that there is a need for the plan to be commercially driven as industry players from the private sector will look at the viability of the investment.
“That’s why we need to make it commercially viable, to make it more sustainable and inclusive as well. This will involve all, including GLCs and capital investment from their part as well,” he added.
With the involvement of the private sector in the plan, the delivery management unit under Tengku Zafrul’s ministry will be set up to coordinate all efforts and drive cohesive implementation across stakeholders.
This is additional to the NIMP council which involves various ministries and agencies that oversee the execution of the plan.
Tengku Zafrul added that the unit will ensure timely and effective implementation through periodically released report to inform internal and external stakeholders as well as the public about the progress of the NIMP and various other initiatives.
Source: NST
