KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 -- The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) is hoping the government will allocate more funds for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Budget 2020 to help them adopt the Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0).

Its Deputy Minister Dr Ong Kian Ming said the ministry had forwarded the request to the Ministry of Finance.

“Additionally, we (also) hope to have more streamlined incentives especially to attract more foreign direct investment in light of the US-China conflict,” he told reporters on the sidelines of Grant Thornton Malaysia’s Industry4WRD Seminar here today.

In a separate development, Ong said as of Sept 21, 2019, over 600 companies had applied for the Industry4WRD Readiness Assessment (Industry4WRD-RA) and 133 companies qualified for it.

Industry4WRD is a national policy on Industry 4.0 that was launched on Oct 31, 2018, while Industry4WRD-RA is a process where firms assess their capabilities and readiness to adopt Industry 4.0.

"We are still evaluating the others to see whether they qualify, and we want to be able to expand Industry4WRD-RA to as many qualified companies as soon as possible so that we are able to reach our 500 companies target," said Ong, adding that the ministry hoped to see the target achieved by year-end.

Grant Thornton Malaysia conducted a half-day seminar on Industry4WRD, supported by the MITI for the public to understand the government initiatives and tax incentives for the manufacturing industry to support IR 4.0.

 The seminar covered topics such as Domestic Investment Strategic Fund conducted by Malaysian Development Authority (MIDA), Financing Solutions for Industry4WRD by the Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd (MIDF) and also tax incentives for IR 4.0 by Grant Thornton Malaysia.

-- BERNAMA