Chua urges GLCs to buy from local SMEs
Published on: Thursday, December 01, 2016
KUALA NERUS (Terengganu): Government-linked companies (GLCs) have been urged to buy products from local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to ensure that the country's current account remains in surplus. Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Chua Tee Yong, said although most SMEs had received the National Mark of Malaysian Brand from SME Corp Malaysia they still found it difficult to expand their businesses due to the poor response from local companies."This is different for SMEs in other countries as the support they received from their local companies has helped them quickly get the international recognition," he said. ADVERTISEMENT He said this to reporters after a site visit to the light-emitting diode company, Avialite Sdn Bhd, in the Gong Badak Industrial Area here Wednesday.Also present were Chairman of Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd's (MIDF) East Zone, Shahrin Abdullah, Director of SME Corp Terengganu, Muhammad Ibrahim and Avialite Chief Innovation Officer, Chew Ein Li. Chua said he would bring up this issue for discussions at the ministry so that the SMEs could help boost their contributions to the gross domestic product from 36 per cent to 41 per cent. He said this would also help to reduce imports because if the publicity from local SMEs was good, the country could grow faster and attract more investors.ADVERTISEMENT "This is because if we want to sell our products to a country, they will ask whether they have a good reputation or are well-received," he said. Chua said entrepreneurs thought MIDF only lend to SMEs despite the fact that certain loans were opened to all companies, SMEs and non-SMEs in the country.
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"They assume that their applications will automatically not be entertained if their loans reach RM289 million or their soft loans reach RM35 million."For that, we will tell them know the types of loans they qualify and competitive interest rates," he said. – Bernama