Johor-Singapore SEZ could be ‘game changer’ for SMEs, but details on support needed: OCBC

THE Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (SEZ) could be a “game changer” for Singapore’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that enter the zone as suppliers to the multinational corporations (MNCs) setting up there, said OCBC’s head of global commercial banking Linus Goh.

He noted, however, that while Malaysia has already announced plans to attract global investments into the SEZ, Singapore has not given details of how it can support its businesses to get set up across the Causeway, beyond existing internationalisation schemes.

Speaking to the media upon the release of OCBC’s latest quarterly SME Index on Thursday (Jan 9), he said: “Malaysia has fired the initial salvo with the tax incentives. Is there something that perhaps would help the Singapore businesses transition themselves to (the zone)?”