Govt committed to improving the country's competitiveness, says Muhyiddin

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said foreign investments and international trade should be given a special focus as an important enabler for the national recovery programme.

"For this purpose, the International Trade and Industry Ministry (MITI) will continue to explore new potential exports and encourage the use of automation and mechanisation among industry players," he said when announcing the Strategic Programme to Empower the People and the Economy (PEMERKASA) today.

Other measures to be implemented under PEMERKASA include the eBizLink initiative which is a digital marketing platform via online and hybrid, as well as the Globalpreneur initiative aimed at promoting more small and medium enterprise companies with potential at the international level.

"The government will also raise the Market Development Grant (MDG) ceiling from RM300,000 to RM500,000 for each company that participates in international exhibitions," said Muhyiddin.

He said a matching grant valued at RM50 million would be provided to develop the aerospace and medical devices industries in order to create new national sources of wealth.

"The government and United Nations Malaysia will set up the MySDG Trust Fund as a platform to enable financing from various sources to fund projects that meet the Sustainable Development Goals criteria," the prime minister said.

He said the government would launch sustainable sukuk amounting to no less than US$1 billion and the income from the sukuk would finance programmes and projects which had sustainable elements as well as addressed the socioeconomic effects from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Muhyiddin said the Special Task Force to Facilitate Business or PEMUDAH was always committed to ensure that agile regulations were implemented to spur domestic reinvestments.

"This includes the expansion of the national Authorised Economic Operator programme that provides the green lane facility to eligible companies for the export and import businesses as well as a shorter investment application processing period," he added.