PETALING JAYA: Putrajaya plans to review the management of shopping malls owned by government-linked companies (GLC) to ensure they are managed by local companies.
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This, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said, was to make certain that more Bumiputera traders would operate there.
“The involvement of Bumiputeras now must not only be in the informal sector but also in the formal sector, such as running businesses in shopping malls,” he said at a gala dinner in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of UDA Holdings Berhad (UDA) last night.
Now that the country had entered the endemic phase, entrepreneurs, including those from the Bumiputera community, could once again run their businesses and reinvigorate the country’s economy, he said.
“At a time when the country is facing the pressures of inflation, Malaysia’s wholesale and retail trade sales value registered a new record in May, with a growth of 19.9%, amounting to RM129.8 billion, which is the highest since 2013,” he said.
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Despite such progress, he said the socio-economic status of Bumiputeras was still at a low level, and their involvement in entrepreneurship needed to be improved.
He suggested that UDA sell or rent existing business spaces at rates affordable to Bumiputera entrepreneurs who had the potential to expand their businesses.
He said the government was committed to empowering Bumiputeras and had set aside an allocation of RM11.4 billion in Budget 2022 for this very purpose.
Ismail also announced a RM100 million fund for UDA to help Bumiputera commercial centres and entrepreneurs.-BERNAMA