Minimum wage policy to be announced in first half of this year

Posted on April 3, 2012, Tuesday

KUALA LUMPUR: The minimum wage policy is expected to be announced in the first half of this year, while upskilling and upgrading of the workforce continues, says the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu).

In the Economic Transformation Programme Annual Report 2011, Pemandu said the focus is on five sectors, namely, oil, gas and energy, tourism, electrical and electronics, communications content and infrastructure and business services.

In addition, the MyProCert programme aims to upskill Malaysians to international certification standards targets, to produce 5,000 new certified professionals by 2014.

Meanwhile, Pemandu said 33 companies under six government linked investment companies (GLICs) have been identified as ready for divestment, either through a listing, pare-down or outright sale.

Under the plan to rationalise the portfolio of GLCs, five have been identified for stake pare-downs, seven for public-listing and 21 for outright sale.

For 2011-2012, 24 companies have been identified for the government’s divestment exercise and the process will begin, as the shares hit an agreed-upon strike price.

“To date, four companies comprising the four subsidiaries in MSM Holdings Bhd’s IPO have been divested. The listing of Felda Global Ventures Holdings Sdn Bhd is slated to happen in May 2012,” the report said.

On the public finance strategic reform initiatives which aims to reduce government expenditure while increasing revenue, Pemandu said the primary focus is on increasing Federal government revenue via improving tax administration and compliance of both direct and indirect taxes.

“We estimate that some RM1.94 billion will be collected in 2012 on top of the conventional revenue projection made,” the report said.

Pemandu also reiterated its commitment to introducing the good and services tax (GST) while continuing rationalisation of subsidies, as much of the national income is now from Petronas which is not sustainable.

“We need a broad-based consumption tax, a tax levied on the value-added activities by every operation along the delivery chain.

“The GST will not impact the lower income group as most of the basic products and services such as rice, raw meat, fresh fish, vegetables, domestic public transportation and healthcare services, will be exempted or zero-rated ,” it said.

Pemandu said SMEs would be offered incentives to reduce the cost of implementing the GST, adding, the estimated additional revenue is RM6 billion-RM10 billion depending on the GST tax rate of four-five per cent.

On narrowing disparity, the Unit Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera (Teraju) has selected 30 SMEs to undergo the High Performing Bumiputera SME Programme, which focuses on developing the next generation of world-class entrepreneurs.

A RM2 billion facilitation fund to be managed by the Public-Private Partnership Unit (Ukas) and Teraju has been allocated by the government to encourage the implementation of Bumiputera private sector projects.

A total of 12,000 scholarships would be made available by the Yayasan Peneraju Pendidikan Bumiputera, a private education trust fund for specialised skills and training.

It has begun with more than RM100 million in pledges, the report said. — Bernama

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/04/03/minimum-wage-policy-to-be-announced-in-first-half-of-this-year/#ixzz2WBeoK0kO