Budget to provide RM3.5b for bumiputera empowerment

BUDGET 2018 | The government will continue to uphold bumiputera empowerment as a national agenda through the Bumiputera Wellbeing Transformation policy by allocating more than RM3.5 billion under the 2018 Budget.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said of the amount, RM2.5 billion, the highest allocation ever, would be provided for higher education scholarships and training programmes under Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara).

“This will benefit nearly 90,000 students, including 1,500 in critical fields such as artificial intelligence, signalling and rail,” he said when tabling the 2018 Budget in Parliament today.

Najib, who is also finance minister, said RM90 million would be allocated for Peneraju Profesional, Skil and Tunas programmes for the benefit of almost 8,000 individuals, and RM200 million for the Mara Graduate Employability Training Scheme (Gets).

The prime minister said RM555 million would be set aside for bumiputera entrepreneurship enhancement programmes, comprising Program Keusahawanan dan Premis Perniagaan PUNB (RM200 million), Mara Entrepreneurship Programme (RM200 million), as well as for vendor capacity development under Tunas Usahawan Belia Bumiputera (Tube), Skim Usahawan Permulaan Bumiputera (Superb), and Skim Anjakan Usahawan (RM155 million).

In the quest to increase bumiputera’s equity and investments in strategic sectors, he said RM150 million would be allocated to Pelaburan Hartanah Bhd (PHB) and RM150 million to Ekuiti Nasional Bhd (Ekuinas).

For the Chinese community, Najib said the government would allocate RM50 million as loans for small and medium enterprise (SME) entrepreneurs through Koperasi Jayadiri Malaysia Bhd and another RM30 million to the 1Malaysia Hawkers and Petty Traders Foundation as loans to hawkers.

On the other hand, he said RM50 million would be allocated under the Indian Community Entrepreneur Development Scheme (SPUMI) through Tabung Ekonomi Kumpulan Usaha Niaga (Tekun) for the benefit of more than 35,000 entrepreneurs.

In recognising women’s contribution in national development, Najib said RM20 million would be allocated to conduct training and entrepreneurship programmes, including the PEAK Entrepreneur Programme under MyWin Academy.

- Bernama