DEWAN RAKYAT: Amendment to SMEs law

THE law will be amended for the establishment of the National Small and Medium Enterprises Development Council and the Small and Medium Enterprises Corporation Malaysia.

Yesterday, Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Jacob Dungau Sagan tabled the Small and Medium Industries Development Corporation (Amendment) Bill 2009 in the Dewan Rakyat for first reading.

The amendment creates two new sections -- Sections 14A to enable the corporation to grant loans to SMEs and Sections 17A to empower it to establish companies.

The corporation will be responsible for monitoring, coordinating and evaluating the implementation of policies, strategies and programmes for SMEs.