KUALA LUMPUR (March 24): Malaysia needs an underlying structural economic transformation to increase productivity growth, according to the World Bank.
East Asia and Pacific regional vice president Manuela V Ferro highlighted that while the country has done relatively well compared to its regional peers, it has lagged its global aspirational peers that have nearly three times the productivity levels.
“Further, there are significant variations in productivity levels among firms within Malaysia.
“Pre-pandemic estimates suggest that smaller firms generally lag significantly behind their larger counterparts,” she said, adding that firms in the top 25% of the productivity distribution are nearly 12 times more productive than those in the bottom 25%.
“The pandemic has further exacerbated these differences,” she noted.
Ferro said that in recent years, spending on research and development (R&D) activities in Malaysia has decreased after a steady increase until 2016.
Gross public expenditure on R&D has dropped from 1.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2016 to 1.0% of GDP in 2018.
“This falls short of Malaysia’s envisaged goal of 2.0% of GDP and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average of 2.6%.”
The World Bank also found that Malaysian firms are also less likely to spend on R&D compared to their regional peers.
“Our engagement with the government has provided us opportunities to look at relevant policy areas to assist in charting a path forward.
“One aspect of this which we focus on in our recent work relates to increasing small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) contribution to Malaysia’s economic growth,” Ferro said.
Based on analysis undertaken in the ‘SME Program Review’, the World Bank said Malaysia could consider realigning its public support for SMEs to not only enable a private sector-led recovery from the pandemic but also support firm-level innovation.
Another World Bank study titled ‘Assessment of the Malaysian Start-Up Financing Ecosystem’ revealed that Malaysia’s venture capital activities are relatively low compared to the region, in relation to its level of economic development.
“Thus funding activities are performing below potential, affecting investible deal flow down the line. We also find that public support is concentrated on the more advanced stages of innovative activities, calling for a possible need to rebalance this to earlier and hence the riskier stages of the innovation cycle,” she added.
Meanwhile, the assessments on the effectiveness of public research institutions found that while the linkages between academia and industry have increased over time, it broadly remains weak, hence affecting commercialisation of research outputs.
“It has been encouraging to see that in response to the report’s recommendations, the government established a Research Management Unit to reorient its technology transfer and commercialisation programmes to be more responsive to industry needs,” Ferro said.
Based on the reports, the World Bank recommended the government to enhance evidence-based policymaking for SME development by increasing monitoring and evaluation of government programmes and coordination among agencies, to recalibrate SME programmes to support needs on digitalisation and skills upgrading, and to rebalance the policy mix towards the ideation stage with programmes that crowd in private investments.
Read also: Mustapa: Malaysia must strengthen SME ecosystem, mainly on early-stage financing
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pasukhas would turnaround this year.. banyak network, juga di taiwan, indonesia, dll
KUALA LUMPUR: Construction company Pasukhas Group Bhd said its new venture into coal trading will soon become a major revenue stream for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2018 (FY18), contributing revenue of RM150 million in FY18.
The coal trading business has contributed positively to the company, and Pasukhas is expecting more activities from this segment, hence its focus on it in the immediate term, said executive director cum chief executive officer Wan Thean Hoe.
Pasukhas on Jan 22 and Feb 6 announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Pasukhas Products Sdn Bhd had ventured into coal trading through the supply of coal from a company in Taiwan, under contracts worth approximately US$15.09 million.
Wan said he foresees the coal trading business’ potential to overtake its construction business as the largest revenue contributor — up to “60% of its revenue”in the future.
“Currently, the revenue from the coal trading business has exceeded the total company’s revenue of RM36.86 million in FY17,”Wan added, pointing out that the construction and mechanical and electrical engineering service segments contributed up to 90% of revenue in FY17.
Pasukhas’ revenue for FY17 fell to RM36.86 million compared with RM60.36 million in FY16. Despite the lower revenue recorded, the company made a significant turnaround from a loss after tax of RM5.93 million in FY16 to a profit after tax of RM725,000 in FY17, mainly due to better management of project costs.
In the longer term, Pasukhas said, it will also focus on expanding its energy business in Malaysia and Indonesia, where it has power plant concessions.
The company will target smaller power plants — less than 100mw — and it has identified quite a number of power plants in Malaysia, Wan said at a press conference after its extraordinary general meeting (EGM) yesterday.
“We also see great demand for smaller power plants in Indonesia, especially for the islands where the population is much smaller,”he added.
Pasukhas operates a hydropower plant in Sungai Rek, Kelantan.
On the acquisition of a 92.5% stake in independent power producer PT Tenaga Listrik Gorontalo (PT TLG), a subsidiary of PT Bangun Daya Perkasa, Wan said negotiations are still ongoing but he expects the deal to be concluded by end-2018.
The proposed acquisition was announced in June last year and is aimed at firming up Pasukhas’ foothold in the Indonesian power plant sector.
The company said PT TLG runs a 2 x 12.5mw coal-fired power plant in Sulawesi Utara, Gurontalo City, Indonesia.
During the EGM, shareholders agreed to Pasukhas’ plan to diversify its business to include property development and coal trading. Pasukhas is currently involved in mechanical and electrical engineering service; manufacture of low-voltage switchboards; trading of equipment mainly in distribution, power and converter transformers; engineering and construction activities.
Moving forward, Pasukhas said it will focus more on sourcing for construction jobs from its own projects, including property development and power plant projects, to overcome the “late payment”issues by other developers the company encountered.
Wan added that the current unbilled order book of Pasukhas’ construction segment stands at RM40 million, comprising projects such as hotel and serviced apartments in Shah Alam, Selangor, for Paramount Property Construction Sdn Bhd, AEON Mall in Nilai and the Langat 2 water treatment plant.
Pasukhas targets to comply with Bursa Malaysia’s Bumiputera Equity Requirements by year end.
Wan said the company is currently in the midst of seeking institutional investors to invest in the group, adding that Pasukhas has up to January 2019 to comply with the requirements.
“The company currently has equity participation from bumiputeras of less than 1%,” Wan said.
Shareholders approved the issuance of new shares aimed at meeting the requirements during the EGM yesterday.
To comply with the Bumiputera Equity Requirements for public listed companies, the company has to allocate 12.5% of its enlarged issued and paid-up share capital to bumiputera investors recognised by the ministry of international trade and industry.
Ingat!
Pasukhas shares closed unchanged yesterday at 11.5 sen, with 60,000 shares changing hands, giving it a market capitalisation of RM93.33 million.
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Good123
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Posted by Good123 > 2022-03-24 12:13 | Report Abuse
Serap balik banyak syer murah sebelum melambung. Strategi yang licik Dan berhasil baginya