KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 — The government, through the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry (KPDNHEP), will continue with high-impact campaigns such as the Buy Malaysian Products Campaign (KBBM) and Mega Sales Programme (PJM).

Both KBBM and PJM will be intensified next year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said, adding that KBBM was found to have a positive impact on the domestic economy while PJM had met its sales targets.

"Sales of Malaysian-made goods under KBBM for 2020 reached RM3.3 billion compared to RM2.87 billion in 2019.

"PJM, meanwhile, performed as targeted, with the target of RM100 million in sales value for the fourth quarter of 2020 met after RM135.9 million in sales value was recorded,” he said in his speech at the Domestic Trade Awards 2020 (APDN 2020) at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre here tonight.

Also present were Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi and Minister of Federal Territories Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim.

Ismail Sabri said the government through KPDNHEP was always mobilising the domestic economic recovery machinery through high-impact initiatives to further boost the development of the trade distribution sector.

"Among the measures taken to support the recovery and re-empowerment of the domestic trade sector is that the government has allocated RM33 million under the 2022 Budget specifically to revitalise the trade distribution sector," he said.

Meanwhile, he said through the Retail Industry Vaccination programme (RiVAC), almost 56,000 workers in the retail sector had received Covid-19 full vaccinations nationwide through public and private partnerships.

"Through the RiVAC Programme, it has directly guaranteed protection to workers in the retail sector and helped boost the country's economic recovery.

"The government believes that this achievement is a result of the good cooperation enjoyed among all parties. It is this form of synergy that I want to apply to all parties under the ‘Keluarga Malaysia (Malaysian Family) concept,” he said.

Ismail Sabri said daily monitoring was also a manifestation of KPDNHEP's commitment to the responsibility given by the government, namely to ensure sufficient food supply and necessities.

"The enforcement authorities need to conduct more aggressive monitoring and operations to ensure that traders do not take the opportunity to increase prices to the point of angering consumers,” he said.

Ismail Sabri also stressed that digitalisation was the main agenda in these times, which would also be the main focus of the government in the coming years ahead. 

"We need to be brave and reboot and implement the best practices and among them is to accelerate the digitalisation agenda. 

"The omni-channel business concept and the focus on low touch economy needs to be emphasised. Of course, both of these agendas require industry players to accept and adopt technology and digitalisation more widely,” he said. 

In tonight’s awards, a total of 25 award categories were presented including for small and medium enterprises, Fair Price Stores, Franchise, Direct Selling, Retail, E-Commerce, Media and Petrol Stations.

Among the main award recipients were Fatihah Frozen Food Sdn Bhd for the best product category, Mydin Mohamed Holdings Berhad which won the best entry in the Buy Malaysian Products Campaign category while Ecart Services Malaysia Sdn Bhd (Lazada Malaysia) won the best online market operator category.

Global Art & Creative Sdn Bhd won the Best Franchise (Domestic) while Shell Malaysia Trading Sdn Bhd was awarded the Best Petrol Station Convenience Store. — Bernama