Budget 2021 is Malaysia's most expansionary budget in history with three main objectives to help the country overcome the crisis brought upon by the Covid-19 pandemic. But do the initiatives meet the objectives and does it offer new ideas? Tai Lai Kok, Executive Director & Head of Tax at KPMG, and Tricia Yeoh, CEO of the Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), dissect the details of Budget 2021.



Image Credit: Abdul Razak Latif / Shutterstock

Budget 2021 is Malaysia's most expansionary budget in history with three main objectives to help the country overcome the crisis brought upon by the Covid-19 pandemic. But do the initiatives meet the objectives and does it offer new ideas? Tai Lai Kok, Executive Director &amp; Head of Tax at KPMG, and Tricia Yeoh, CEO of the Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), dissect the details of Budget 2021.

Image Credit: Abdul Razak Latif / Shutterstock

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The Breakfast Grille

Featuring the cream-of-the-crop as well as the controversial, the Breakfast Grille is the flagship show of BFM. Expect no-holds-barred interviews to get to the truth and into the minds of business leaders, policymakers and changemakers.

Expansionary Budget For All?

Telco tower veteran Suresh Sidhu launched EdgePoint Infrastructure in 2020, scaling the regional venture to over 16,000 sites across Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, with backing from DigitalBridge, and then later the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

However the infrastructure model now faces a more complex reality: carrier consolidation and a higher for longer interest rate environment that creates a more challenging environment, in particular for a PE-backed player. Can ASEAN’s underlying tide of data demand outrun these mounting structural pressures?

Suresh Sidhu joins the show to discuss navigating private equity expectations in a high-rate climate, the shifting economics of a consolidated customer base, and the new growth engines driving the TowerCo model.

Telco tower veteran Suresh Sidhu launched EdgePoint Infrastructure in 2020, scaling the regional venture to over 16,000 sites across Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, with backing from DigitalBridge, and then later the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.However the infrastructure model now faces a more complex reality: carrier consolidation and a higher for longer interest rate environment that creates a more challenging environment, in particular for a PE-backed player. Can ASEAN’s underlying tide of data demand outrun these mounting structural pressures?Suresh Sidhu joins the show to discuss navigating private equity expectations in a high-rate climate, the shifting economics of a consolidated customer base, and the new growth engines driving the TowerCo model.

Can ASEAN’s Digital Needs Push EdgePoint Past Key Pressures?

Pharmaniaga officially exited PN17 status in March, having taken three years to complete its regularisation plan. The firm is now vying to become the most valuable pharmaceutical company in Malaysia by 2030 leveraging on its ongoing government concession in logistics and biopharma manufacturing capabilities. We catch-up with Managing Director Dato’ Zulkifli Jafar to find out how he intends to achieve this goal.

Pharmaniaga officially exited PN17 status in March, having taken three years to complete its regularisation plan. The firm is now vying to become the most valuable pharmaceutical company in Malaysia by 2030 leveraging on its ongoing government concession in logistics and biopharma manufacturing capabilities. We catch-up with Managing Director Dato’ Zulkifli Jafar to find out how he intends to achieve this goal.

Pharmaniaga Post-PN17 Betting Big on Biopharma

Still fresh from his re-entry into UMNO, we ask the former Minister and Youth Chief what role he sees for himself in the party ahead of GE16, and his views on the Barisan-Pakatan cooperation and what the Malay community wants. We also tap him for his views on great power rivalry, the US-Israeli attack on Iran and the global crisis it has created. Are our political elite up to the task of navigating the global crisis, or will they keep our house permanently divided?

Still fresh from his re-entry into UMNO, we ask the former Minister and Youth Chief what role he sees for himself in the party ahead of GE16, and his views on the Barisan-Pakatan cooperation and what the Malay community wants. We also tap him for his views on great power rivalry, the US-Israeli attack on Iran and the global crisis it has created. Are our political elite up to the task of navigating the global crisis, or will they keep our house permanently divided?

Expansionary Budget For All?

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