Malaysia To Co-Partner With IDB To Form Islamic Venture Fund

CYBERJAYA (Selangor, Malaysia), March 1 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is to co-partner with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to form an Islamic Venture Fund, Treasury Secretary General Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah said Monday. He said the size of the venture fund would be between US$50 million to US$100 million. “We are still working on the terms of reference. “We are hoping to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with IDB in May this year when we have our annual meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia,” he told reporters after attending Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre's (MaGIC) Startup Services Platform Open Day 2016 here Monday. Mohd Irwan said Malaysia is keen to invite Dubai, one of the Islamic financial hubs in the world, to be part of the Islamic venture. “With Malaysia, Dubai and IDB we will gain momentum and receive support from the startup ecosystem not only in Malaysia and the region but also from Middle East companies. “In the Middle East, the startup ecosystem is still at an early stage. We are moving faster, so our companies can also play a role in this Islamic Venture Fund to increase their funding size,” he said. On Fitch Ratings maintaining Malaysia’s rating at A- with stable outlook, Mohd Irwan said the rating agency was happy with the steps taken by the government, including the budget recalibration exercise where Malaysia maintained its goal of cutting the deficit to 3.1 per cent of Gross Domestic Product from 3.2 per cent. "Although we readjusted the growth rate to between 4.5 to 5 per cent taking into consideration all the difficulties in the global economic environment, our growth rate is credible,” he said. In his speech, Mohd Irwan said MaGIC Central is the first and most comprehensive web-based startup services platform to provide advice and information on entrepreneurship in Malaysia, as well as facilitate networking with collaborating agencies. He said the enhanced MaGIC Central portal provides a more efficient search which filters a comprehensive collection of over 700 products and services from over 180 agencies available for entrepreneurs. --BERNAMA