Digital economy likely to get support in 2018 Budget, says MDEC

KUALA LUMPUR: The digital economy initiative will continue to get the support in the 2018 Budget, said Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) chief executive officer, Datuk Yasmin Mahmood.

She said the budget wish-list would most likely remain the same as last year with the main focus on digital economy.

“Our leaders (government) are fully aware of the impact on the digital economy’s growth for the country.

“Last year was evidence of the digital economy’s impact with multi-programmes, such as ‘eRezeki’, which left a great momentum,” she told reporters on the sidelines of the Big Data Week Asia 2017 event yesterday.

Yasmin said, last year the focus was on the start-up ecosystem and the momentum would continue for a couple more years.

A total of RM162 million was allocated to MDEC in Budget 2017 for programmes such as ecommerce ecosystem and Digital Maker Movement as well as the introduction of the Malaysia Digital Hub.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, in announcing that, said digital connectivity was a revolution in economic activity, contributing nearly 16 per cent to the nation’s gross domestic product.

The two-day Big Data Week Asia 2017 is organised MDEC and Knowledge Group of Companies for industry players, students and public.

It features international speakers of various expertise, leading exhibitors, sponsors, and satellite events focused on building a datadriven ASEAN.

Yasmin said, to help Malaysia lead the digital economy, MDEC would be working with relevant partners to develop a national Artificial Intelligence (AI) framework.

“What we need to do is to ensure to look at the progression and evolve our existing big data.

“AI has been around for quite sometime now and the country is moving into its realms,” she said, adding it would be a critical extension to the National Big Data Analytics Framework. — Bernama