MELAKA: The Cooperative Institute of Malaysia (IKMa) is committed to empowering at least 1,000 cooperatives to achieve the targeted revenue of RM60 billion by 2030 compared to RM40 billion currently.
Its director-general Datuk Mohd Ali Mansor said of the 15,315 cooperatives in the country, only two per cent of them contributed to 95 per cent of the sector’s earnings.
“The cooperative sector is divided into four categories, namely big, medium, small and micro, with the figure of two per cent being contributed by 268 big cooperatives and 479 medium-sized cooperatives.
“While more than 14,000 cooperatives involved small and micro-sized cooperatives, which reflects an imbalance that can cause problems for this sector,” he told reporters after launching the ‘Turun Padang Ke Arah Memasyarakatkan Koperasi 2023’ (MASKOP) programme in Bandar Melaka, here, today.
He said if the number of new cooperatives increased, a considerable injection of funds would be required for assistance and loans while the tax for cooperatives would be focused on the two per cent that contributed to the revenue.
“Meanwhile, the remaining 98 per cent of cooperatives cannot be taxed because their income is less than RM250,000 and if this continues, it will affect the Cooperative Education Trust Fund and Cooperative Development Trust Fund to be small.
“With the small amount, it will be difficult for us to assist the increasing number of cooperatives and that is why we need to empower these cooperatives so that more can contribute revenue to the government,” he said.
He said IKMa would continue to play its role as a training and human capital development centre for cooperatives in Malaysia through empowerment programmes. -Bernama
