Madius
KOTA KINABALU: The State Government has allocated a RM20 million in the form of grant to help micro and cottage entrepreneurs in rural Sabah.
Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau said one of the conditions set for applicants was that they must be Malaysian citizens from Sabah.
He also said that they must be rural micro and cottage entrepreneurs with annual income of not more than RM50,000.
“The applicants must possess a business license and have attained a letter of confirmation from the Village Community Administration Committee (MPKK) chairman to testify the production activities or services that they are rendering,” he said.
Madius said the applicants must also produce their identification card, business license and the letter of confirmation.
Speaking at the launch of the Micro and Cottage Entrepreneurs Assistance under the Sabah New Deal at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) here yesterday, Madius said many businesses in Sabah had been adversely affected by the Covid-19 and Movement Control Order (MCO) directive.
He said some business entities such as factories, SMEs, as well as business owners and hawkers of various sectors had seen their activities slowing drastically while some had stopped entirely.
He added that this had resulted in huge losses to them, while others had lost their source of income.
“The situation has resulted in increased unemployment rate, reduced consumers buying power as well as slowed the economic growth of the state, jeopardizing the government income and the life quality of the people,” he said.
Madius reiterated that the Sabah government had decided to announce and implement the second phase of the Sabah New Deal stimulus package worth RM240 million on June 18.
He explained that the package was aimed at invigorating the economic sectors that had been badly affected in Sabah.
As for the distribution of the RM20 million grant from the micro and cottage entrepreneurs, he said that his ministry had been given charge of it.