Mapping Malaysia's Resource Centres

15 SME Development The Malaysian Government has continued to support SMEs, recognising their value as the backbone of the nation’s economy by implementing a number of measures and initiatives to ensure that local enterprises will continue to thrive amidst an uncertain economic landscape. Against the backdrop of a challenging global and domestic environment, SMEs are expected to remain resilient and its contribution to the total economy is projected to further increase with the introduction of various new initiatives and programmes as announced in the National Budget as well as the positive spill over effects following Visit Malaysia Year. Malaysia’s vibrant economy is attributed by the contribution of the SMEs that account for over 98% of the total business establishments in the country. Representing the vast majority of the total business population, SMEs contributed an estimated 38% to overall GDP, over 17% to total exports and just over 66% to overall employment. The SME GDP growth is projected to expand by nearly 6%, of which private consumption – which has a significant correlation with SME GDP – will continue to support the growth of SMEs going forward. Malaysian SMEs are indeed the catalysts to address economic disparities across income groups, ethnicities, regions and supply chains. Coordination of SME development initiatives guided by the policy direction from the National Entrepreneur and SME Development Council (NESDC) chaired by the Honourable Prime Minister of Malaysia and supported by the High Level Task Force with Strategic Committees covering key areas such as connectivity, human capital, environment and tourism shall contribute towards a more conducive ecosystem for SMEs to thrive. This is further supported by over 170 SME development programmes across various focus areas that are crucial towards steering SME development. In the journey towards establishing a fully- fledged entrepreneurial nation within the next decade, the Government is intensifying its efforts to institute various policies, strategies, and initiatives to create a vigorous and robust SME sector that would facilitate the transformation of SMEs into dynamic globally- competitive businesses. Moving forward, the focus will be on aligning entrepreneurs and SME development to the national plans of National Entrepreneurship Policy 2030 and Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 to further unleash the untapped potential of SMEs and enable the quantum leap in growth and thus increase the contribution of SMEs to the economy.