People and Economic Strategic Empowerment Programme (PEMERKASA)

A year after the introduction of the Movement Control Order to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, Malaysia continues its path towards economic recovery. The country is now in the 5th stage or ‘Revitalise’ stage of the 6R Comprehensive Economic Recovery Plan (Resolve, Resilient, Restart, Recovery, Revitalise and Reform). The ‘Revitalise’ stage started with the launch of Budget 2021 initiatives and on 17 March 2021, YAB Prime Minister announced a further stimulus package named PEMERKASA worth RM20 billion to stimulate and jump-start the economy

PEMERKASA will focus on 20 strategic initiatives to drive economic recovery, support businesses and provide targeted assistance to the rakyat and sectors that are still affected by the pandemic.

Below are some of the initiatives introduced to help sustain businesses and ensure industries continuity and support manufacturing and services companies move towards the adoption of digitalisation and automation.

COVID-19 pandemic mitigation

Among the initiatives introduced for containment of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic are:

Spurring Economic Recovery

Stimulating the recovery of affected economic sectors through expediting the implementation of development projects, incentives for hiring workers, tax incentives for targeted sectors and microcredit facilities.

Strengthening the Nation’s Competitiveness through Automation and Digitalisation

Various loan facilities and grants schemes are expanded to support industries and businesses, including SMEs, to adopt automation and digitalisation.

Source: MIDA e-Newsletter March 2021