The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers has applauded the new administration’s effort to improve service delivery to ensure speedier approvals towards facilitating business. President Tan Sri SohThian Lai sees the commitment of the Government machinery as a positive step towards enhancing the ease of doing business but has also requested approvals towards R&D incentives to speed up as time is critical when it comes to innovation.
Key to enhancing service levels is improving productivity levels and this can be achieved with greater levels of innovation such as digitalisation which would shorten waiting time, reduce cost and do away with the discretionary powers of officers to approve applications. Equally important to improving public service delivery is for policies, regulations, and Government procedures to be made simple, transparent, reliable, easy to comply with, consistent, and fair.
Innovation and R&D play a critical role for industries and countries as they are game changers in achieving high economic growth. In this regard, the industry has called on the Government to continue supporting R&D and innovation initiatives of the industry via greater allocation of financial assistance, incentives, and initiatives in the coming Budget 2023 including liberalisation of the double deduction tax incentive for R&D expenses by allowing an automatic deduction with no threshold and time bar which is extended to all companies including mid-tier and larger companies have given their potential to spur innovation and creativity.
He added in line with the Prime Minister’s pledge to improve the Government’s service delivery, the relevant agencies must grant faster approvals for applications relating to R&D incentives as speed is of the essence to the success of the new product/service development and commercialisation.
