KUALA LUMPUR: The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) has lauded the timely announcement of the federal fiscal stimulus package, but expressed disappointment that the export sector has not been given prominence.
FMM president Tan Sri Soh Thian Lai thanked the government for including some of its recommendations on boosting domestic consumption and said the federation was looking forward to further details of the measures to be introduced as soon as possible.
“FMM thanks the government for taking heed of our recommendations in our stimulus package wishlist to boost domestic consumption by announcing the 4% reduction in the employees’ contribution to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), introducing the digital domestic travel vouchers and the 15% discount in electricity bills to hotels, shopping malls, etc. to stimulate the tourism industry,” he said in a statement.
However, he added that based on feedback received from FMM members, the main concern of manufacturers is the impact of Covid-19 on production, which has slowed down due to low supply of raw materials sourced from China.
“Imports of these raw materials from China are affected as certain cities are currently under lockdown and production has been stopped.
“Similarly, exports to China are affected as most of the customers and importers are still close due to the Chinese government’s directive,” he said.
Soh then outlined eight initiatives which he said would have both direct and indirect impact on the manufacturing sector, including a RM200 million microcredit facility at 4% interest rate to affected businesses, a RM2 billion special relief facility for SMEs for working capital, and a RM300 million SME automation & digitalisation facility.
In relation to government procurement and implementation of development projects, Soh said FMM urges the government to place greater emphasis on ‘Love Malaysia, Buy Made-in-Malaysia Products’ in order to ensure robust and sustained domestic market demand for Malaysian manufactured products and to promote import substitution which will strengthen the capacity and capability of the domestic manufacturing industry.
Meanwhile, he said FMM was urging its members to be persistent in their efforts to sustain business and also find alternative sources from within Asean or via other trade partners if supplies from China are not coming in on time.
