'SMEs badly need govt help'
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
SMALL businesses in Brunei Darussalam are crying for help from the government and the giants in the corporate world.
The government should accelerate projects under the national development plan to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) grow and sustain amid the economic turmoil, an Apec Business Advisory Council (Abac) member said.
Abac member and Brunei LNG CEO Hj Salleh Bostaman Hj Zainal Abidin said the Brunei government should start taking advantage of cheap resources available in other countries.
"We need the government, instead of reducing expenditure, to go out there and spend and take advantage of the cheap resources that are currently available out there, in terms of raw materials, labour as well as in terms of skills resources.
"Particularly in building the necessary infrastructure all these are already in the national development plan but now what needs to be done is to accelerate it," Salleh told The Brunei Times following the Apec SME Summit held at The Empire Hotel & Country Club yesterday.
SMEs in the Asia Pacific rim, he said, suffer more rapidly and severely from falling demands and credit tightening. As a result of recent events beyond their control, many SMEs are facing or are likely to face in the near future extreme difficulties in their day-to-day business, including in their ability to attract sufficient financing at a reasonable cost, he said.
"Any remedies on the current crisis should not be limited to supporting larger industries or specific sectors only but also need to improve framework conditions that support the SMEs.
"Brunei SMEs cannot sustain on their own. The support must come from the government and the bigger corporations. The market here is small. If they (SMEs) were just to go for the domestic market, then they cannot grow to compete internationally," Salleh said.
Yesterday's Apec SME Summit, held in conjunction with the 2nd Abac meeting in Brunei, saw the sharing of views among several of the region's top business leaders on the challenges and opportunities facing SMEs amid the global economic turmoil.
Resolutions and findings that arise from the SME summit and the Abac meeting will form part of Abac's recommendations to leaders during the Apec summit. The Brunei Times
The government should accelerate projects under the national development plan to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) grow and sustain amid the economic turmoil, an Apec Business Advisory Council (Abac) member said.
Abac member and Brunei LNG CEO Hj Salleh Bostaman Hj Zainal Abidin said the Brunei government should start taking advantage of cheap resources available in other countries.
"We need the government, instead of reducing expenditure, to go out there and spend and take advantage of the cheap resources that are currently available out there, in terms of raw materials, labour as well as in terms of skills resources.
"Particularly in building the necessary infrastructure all these are already in the national development plan but now what needs to be done is to accelerate it," Salleh told The Brunei Times following the Apec SME Summit held at The Empire Hotel & Country Club yesterday.
SMEs in the Asia Pacific rim, he said, suffer more rapidly and severely from falling demands and credit tightening. As a result of recent events beyond their control, many SMEs are facing or are likely to face in the near future extreme difficulties in their day-to-day business, including in their ability to attract sufficient financing at a reasonable cost, he said.
"Any remedies on the current crisis should not be limited to supporting larger industries or specific sectors only but also need to improve framework conditions that support the SMEs.
"Brunei SMEs cannot sustain on their own. The support must come from the government and the bigger corporations. The market here is small. If they (SMEs) were just to go for the domestic market, then they cannot grow to compete internationally," Salleh said.
Yesterday's Apec SME Summit, held in conjunction with the 2nd Abac meeting in Brunei, saw the sharing of views among several of the region's top business leaders on the challenges and opportunities facing SMEs amid the global economic turmoil.
Resolutions and findings that arise from the SME summit and the Abac meeting will form part of Abac's recommendations to leaders during the Apec summit. The Brunei Times
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