Special panel to address industries' woes in securing loans - Ahmad Husni

A special committee will be set up to address difficulties faced by some industries to get loans from the banks, said Second Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah.

He said the committee would coordinate with Bank Negara Malaysia, financial institutions, commercial banks and industry players to trash out problems pertaining to financing from financial institutions.

Without disclosing the affected industries, Ahmad Husni said: "Just said some industries. We will form a special committee. We discussed it just now.

"We want to synchronise all (the parties). We discussed with the central bank and it said it is agreeable to that," he said.

Ahmad Husni said this to reporters after attending the 2016 Budget: Focus Group Meeting On Strengthening Export Performance at the Finance Ministry here Thursday.

He said the parties looked at ways to enhance the country's exports and one of them was logistics aspect.

"Some of our products have been exported to neighbouring countries and the countries re-exported them to high-end users.

"We can enhance that by exporting products directly," he said.

Ahmad Husni said during the discussions, some of the associations touched on the government's policy of buying local and claimed it was not being done fully.

"We got the (circular) but we will check all the ministries and agencies on the progress.

"With the lowering of ringgit, we want to see more growth, particularly with regards to tender contracts. We want them to emphasise on local products," he said.