KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10 — The Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (Kuskop) has guaranteed that appropriate action is being taken against weaknesses pointed out as well as the recommendations in the Auditor-General's Report (LKAN) 2021 on the small and medium enterprise (SME) programme development grant.
Its minister Datuk Ewon Benedick said SME Corporation Malaysia (SME Corp), the agency involved in the programme, is taking appropriate action following the recommendations in the report.
Kuskop will also request further information from SME Corp regarding any follow-up action to address the weaknesses.
"Kuskop has noted LKAN's criticism related to the programme under SME Corp...I will request more information from SME Corp regarding the (follow-up) actions taken, but SME Corp has already explained. It is being taken care of by SME Corp.
"Kuskop's top management and myself, along with agencies under the ministry, will ensure that all comments in LKAN 2021 are taken into consideration, especially for the upcoming Budget 2024, so every provision is prepared and will be spent as mandated by the government," he said.
Ewon was speaking to the press before chairing the 2023 National Cooperatives Consultation Council Meeting today.
Based on the LKAN 2021 issued today, an audit was carried out for the development grant expenditure of the SME Investment Partner (SIP) programme and the Going Export Programme (GoEx) from 2014 to 2022, involving RM59.52 million for the two programmes.
It found that RM16.73 million SIP programme development grants were not spent.
According to the report, poor programme implementation resulted in only RM27.91 million of the RM59.52 million grant being successfully spent within the set period, while RM14.88 million was spent on other programmes making a total of RM42.79 million (71.9 per cent) of the allocation received, spent and benefited SMEs.
The report recommended that Kuskop, the Ministry of Economy, and the Ministry of Finance monitor programme expenditure performance.
LKAN added that SME Corp Malaysia needs to plan carefully and consider all the needs of SMEs before applying for funds from the ministry to run programmes.
— Bernama
