Business association urges Malaysia to reopen borders to boost businesses

Samenta also calls on for the exemption of hotel quarantines for business travellers who are fully vaccinated and have tested negative for COVID-19.
By: | September 1, 2021
Topics: Health and Wellness | Malaysia | News

The Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia (Samenta) is calling for the reopening of international borders for business travel to resume, and to exempt the requirement for hotel quarantines for business travellers who are fully vaccinated and have tested negative for COVID-19.

“This will help position us favourably vis-a-vis regional competitors in attracting foreign investors,” said Samenta Chairman William Ng. 

The pandemic has created a severe liquidity crunch for SMEs and most suppliers have tightened trading terms for fear of default, he highlighted in a statement. 

“Even if the numbers from the banks may not reflect this, this is felt acutely on the ground and will be debilitating in the recovery phase. If SMEs on the rebound can’t get supplies and raw materials, there is little hope of an SME-driven or SME-supported recovery,” Ng added. 

READ: Malaysian businesses urged to comply with COVID-19 SOPs

“We propose to reintroduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2022, at 4%. This will be lower than the current Sales and Services Tax (SST) and will not only reduce tax leakages but also allow input tax to be set-off against the GST to be remitted by businesses.”