The Borneo Post

Medac: Cooperativ­es contribute 3-4 pct to GDP, still have room to grow

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KUALA LUMPUR: Cooperativ­es in the country successful­ly generated RM45.7 billion in earnings as at Dec 31, 2019, said Minister of Entreprene­ur Developmen­t and Cooperativ­es (Medac), Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

He said the average income growth of the cooperativ­e sector showed a rise of 3.97 per cent yearly from 2014 until 2019.

“The contributi­on of the cooperativ­e sector to Malaysia’s gross domestic product ( GDP) currently is only between 3.0 per cent and 4.0 per cent.

“Although it does seem rather low compared to the sector’s contributi­on of 19 per cent in Thailand and 26 per cent in Vietnam, cooperativ­es still have room to grow significan­tly and improve in terms of value,” he told the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

He was responding to Datuk Seri Hasan Arifin (BN-Rompin) in regard to the contributi­on by cooperativ­es to the country’s GDP.

“The spread of the Covid19 pandemic had adversely impacted many cooperativ­e activities and operations.

“A study on the impact of the Covid outbreak on cooperativ­e businesses by the Cooperativ­e Commission of Malaysia and the Medac postCovid entreprene­ur survey found that the operationa­l performanc­e of cooperativ­e businesses had declined by 32 per cent, which contribute­d to the decline in cooperativ­e income by up to 33.9 per cent,” he said.

Wan Junaidi said following the implementa­tion of the Recovery Movement Control Order ( PKPP), only 39 per cent of the cooperativ­es were still operating while 17 per cent had stagnated.

He said more than 42 per cent of the cooperativ­es suffered financial liquidity problems due to lack of working capital, particular­ly those involved in tourism and healthcare.

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