Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) - the government’s national trade promotion organisation, announced today, a partial compensatory support through the utilisation of Market Development Grant (MDG). The temporary expanded scope of MDG now allows SME companies to claim for reimbursements of specific expenses incurred, due to cancellations or postponements of trade promotion events, such as non- refundable participation fees, airfares and accommodations, subject to the total of all three expense components not exceeding RM25,000 per event.

According to CEO of MATRADE, Dato Wan Latiff Wan Musa, “MATRADE understands the financial difficulties faced by SMEs as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The sudden cancellations or postponements of international trade events had caught many SMEs mainly in the export sector in a financial quandary, after having paid in advance for their participation. We hope that this temporary relief will help SMEs to help cushion the economic blow from the pandemic.”

The reimbursements provided for this temporary relief is funded via direct deductions from the total maximum MDG amount of RM300,000 allocated per company. SMEs and present MDG recipients affected by COVID-19 disruptions can start applying for this temporary relief from 1 August 2020. This compensation, provided as a result of unforeseen disruption of trade promotion activities, will be for cancelled or postponed events from 18 March 2020 to 31 December 2020. For further information on this temporary relief, SMEs may refer to MATRADE’s website.

The MDG introduced in 2002, is MATRADE’s support facility, aimed at helping Malaysian SMEs advance their exports globally. Cumulatively, MDG has benefitted 23,573 companies since it was launched. In 2019, MDG has assisted a total of 1,673 SMEs including related trade and industry associations.