Friday, October 5, 2012

SME-Related Initiatives In 2013 Budget Will Address SMEs' Main Concerns, Says Surey

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 4 (Bernama) -- The new small and medium-sized enterprises- related initiatives introduced in 2013 Budget will help address SMEs' main concerns, a survey by the United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Bhd shows.

Source from (Bernama): http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v6/newsbusiness.php?id=699620
Published: October 05, 2012

The UOB Malaysia SME survey 2012 found that two out of every three (66 per cent) survey respondents planned to expand their market reach over the next three years but to do so they need improved access to financing.

"We expect the 2013 Budget SME initiatives to help Malaysian SMEs tap into additional opportunities available as part of the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP)," said Wong Kim Choong, Chief Executive Officer of UOB Malaysia, in a statement today.

In this regard, 2013 Budget initiatives such as the RM1 billion SME Development Scheme, the RM200 million Halal Industry Fund, the RM200 million Intellectual Property Financing Fund and provision of loans for modernisation of small businesses would provide more financing options to support SMEs with their expansion plans, he said.

"At UOB, we are already seeing an increase in demand from our SME customers for contract financing for the ETP projects," he said.

Capital expenditure (plant, property or equipment) was ranked by the survey as the most significant investment or expenditure that will be made by Malaysian SMEs in 2013 by one in every three (33 per cent) respondents, followed by human capital expenditure (18 per cent) and investment in advertising and marketing (17 per cent).

-- BERNAMA

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