KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 16 — The Northern Corridor Economic Region’s (NCER) external trade increased 13.1 per cent year-on-year to RM191.7 billion in the third quarter of 2021 with a total share of 35.1 per cent of Malaysia’s overall external trade value, contributed by the recovery in global demand.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said manufacturing remained a key sector for NCER, contributing 32 per cent of the region’s gross domestic product (GDP) with approved investments in the sector, increasing 304 per cent  to RM47.91 billion in the first half of 2021 from RM11.8 billion in the second half of 2020, signalling a long-term recovery.

“The Northern Corridor Implementation Authority’s (NCIA) strategic role and proactive action plans towards addressing post pandemic recovery outlined in the NCER Strategic Development Plan (SDP) 2021-2025 has been recognised during the 27th NCIA Council Meeting today.

“The strategy has borne fruit and we have seen significant investments pouring into the region to the tune of RM21.41 billion, a 34 per cent increase from our initial target of RM16 billion,” he said in a statement today.

Ismail Sabri said the three-pronged approach of NCER would enable it to reach a RM300 billion economy, RM10,508 of mean household income, 161,197 of cumulative job creation, and a value of RM146.5 billion of private investments by 2025.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister said investments in the region would also create 23,506 jobs in NCER.

“In line with the Keluarga Malaysia concept, over 65,000 people, including women, youths and Orang Asli have benefited from NCIA’s rakyat-centric human capital programmes to overcome challenges of the pandemic,” he said

On the other hand, the Prime Minister said the empowerNCER-Skills and Entrepreneurship and the JomNiaga@NCER programmes would create nearly 10,000 micro-entrepreneurs and skilled workers among the bottom 40 per cent of the household income (B40) group.

“Currently, more than 900 participants have moved out of poverty, of which 300 participants have transitioned upwards into the M40 and T20 categories.

“More than 5,000 of these local economic movers have not only managed to collectively generate approximately RM45 million income over six months, but also created more than 1,200 jobs for the local communities,” he said.

He said the entrepreneurNCER programme, which provided a 50 per cent top-up on the bank loan interest, has enabled cash-strapped micro-enterprises and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to sustain and grow their businesses.

“This programme has also assisted more than 5,200 microenterprises and SMEs whereby RM85.9 million in financing has been approved by Maybank and AgroBank, yielding Zero Non-Performing Loans (NPL) to date,” he added. — Bernama