Malaysia’s Unemployment Rate Dips to 4.6% in April 2021 In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries commenced self-imposed quarantine on their citizens. As a result, restricting the movement meant that certain economic sectors will have to temporarily be shut down. Some businesses suffered monetary loss and had to resort to cutting down staff. Without…
Malaysia Pegged to Maintain Position as One of the Top E-commerce Markets in ASEAN Accelerated e-commerce growth to bring in gross merchandise value of US$30 billion by 2025. Acknowledged as one of the top e-commerce markets in ASEAN, Malaysia is riding high on market sentiment and expectation. Indeed, there has never been a better time…
DSOM Says This Is the First Positive Year-on-year Growth for 2021 The March retail sales in Malaysia were up by 9.3%, taking the total to RM112.8 billion. According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DSOM), this is the first positive year-on-year growth for 2021. Two sectors were largely responsible for the increase. This was the…
Grants Now Available for SME Digital Transformation in Malaysia Funding Identified Under MIA’s Digital Technology Blueprint Operation Plan To ensure Digital Transformation in Malaysia, more grants have been made available under the Malaysia Institute of Accountants (MIA)’s Digital Technology Blueprint Operation Plan. MIA’s Digital Adoption Plan MIA’s Principle 4 of its Digital Technology Blueprint…
Ministry Encourages Farming Community to Make Use of Latest Technology Malaysia’s Agriculture Ministry is encouraging the local farming community to make use of the latest technology to sell their farming products online. The Agriculture and Food Industries (Mafi) Ministry is urging the farming community to adopt technology like e-commerce platforms. E-commerce platforms would help farmers…
New Guidelines in Place by MARTRADE to Boost Market Capabilities New guidelines have been launched to enhance Malaysia’s services exports by the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MARTRADE). These guidelines are applicable to the Services Export Fund (SEF). The SEF aims to enhance Malaysia’s capabilities to gain market access for overseas projects. The new guidelines…
Manufacturing Predicted to Boost the Country’s Economic Growth Malaysia expects to see stronger industrial output growth within the second half of this year. The growth is expected to come from the support of the manufacturing sector. The manufacturing sector is expected to grow due to the restart of the country’s economic activities. The outlook is…
The Central Bank Has Sufficient Reserves as of February 2021 As of 15 February 2021, the Bank Negara Malaysia international reserves have gone up to US$109.7 billion from their previous US$107.8 billion in January 2021. With the new total, the central bank has enough reserves to finance 8.6 months’ worth of retained imports. It also…
Cybersecurity Test Lab a Joint Effort Venture Malaysia will launch Southeast Asia’s first 5G Cybersecurity Test Lab that will cover a testbed 5G ecosystem that is comprehensive. It will be a model for end-to-end cybersecurity. Southeast Asia’s first 5G Cybersecurity Test Lab is a joint venture between CyberSecurity Malaysia (CSM), Celcom Axiata Bhd and Huawei…
Attracting More Talent to Penang Penang hopes to be a regional economic hub for northern Malaysia, southern Thailand and northern Sumatra by 2022. The northern island state in Malaysia is hoping to attract 150,000 talents in several sectors. The focus is going to be on nurturing and attracting a larger talent pool to help Penang…