He said the RM69bil allocated for development expenditure under the fiscal plan is essential to boost the country’s economy. He also expressed hope that more jobs for engineers and create other construction-related jobs. “As for the property sector, so far, there is only the exemption of stamp duty for first-time home ownership (for units worth RM500,000 and below).
“It has also come to my attention that a lot of property agents are having hard time and facing financial problems due to slower sales.
“I wonder whether the government can help them to weather through the hard times, ” Koe said. Koe, however, lamented the lack of incentive for digitalisation.
He opined it was crucial to provide tax incentives for companies to encourage them to digitalise their businesses, as this help them compete effectively and efficiently at the international level.
Meanwhile, Koe welcomed measures to help address the surge in unemployment in the country, citing the RM3.7bil Skim Jaminan Penjanaan Pekerjaan (JanaKerja) as well as the RM1bil fund for reskilling and upskilling programme. He said it was understandable that not much was mentioned about long-term national economic planning under Budget 2021, as it was more urgent to address the current economic malaise.
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