BUKIT MERTAJAM, Penang: The Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (KUSKOP) has begun discussions and consultations with stakeholders nationwide to gather proposals and ideas for submission to the Ministry of Finance as input for the 2027 Budget.
Its Minister, Steven Sim Chee Keong, said the engagement involved companies, entrepreneurs, associations representing small traders, and cooperatives, and was expected to continue for one to two months in line with the federal budget preparation cycle.
“We are gathering proposals and ideas from stakeholders in the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) and cooperative sectors so that they can be submitted to the Ministry of Finance as input for the 2027 Budget,” he told reporters today.
He said this after launching the 2026 KUSKOP MADANI Sales (JMK) Programme at Taman Makok Basketball Court here, which was also attended by Padang Lalang assemblyman, Daniel Gooi Zi Sen, and National Cooperative Movement of Malaysia’s (ANGKASA) President, Datuk Seri Dr Abdul Fattah Abdullah.
According to him, the proposals would be guided by the ABCD framework comprising Productivity Transformation, Bureaucratic Simplification, Access to Capital, and Market Accessibility, with emphasis on strengthening the competitiveness of the MSME and cooperative sectors.
Sim said the framework prioritised larger funding allocations for MSMEs and cooperatives, lower business operating costs, and improvements in government service delivery and industrial productivity.
On the engagement period, he said the process would take about one to two months, although discussions with stakeholders had already been conducted regularly before the 2027 Budget preparation cycle began.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has said the government will begin drafting the 2027 Budget next month before tabling it in October.
Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, was reported as saying the budget would continue to be guided by the principle that economic growth must translate into improving people’s livelihoods rather than being measured solely by strong economic indicators.
Meanwhile, Sim said today’s JMK programme was the sixth to be held in Penang, with the objectives of helping residents purchase daily necessities at lower prices, providing a platform for cooperatives and entrepreneurs to market their products, and bringing government services closer to the people.
About 80 types of goods were offered at discounts of between 20 and 30 per cent, while 13 government agencies representing the federal and state governments as well as local authorities participated to provide a range of services directly to the public, he added. – BERNAMA
