PUTRAJAYA, April 24 — Issues involving delayed disbursement of funds under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Digital Grant (MSME) Madani are expected to be resolved by the end of this month, Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo said today.

He said the matter was raised at a recent National Economic Action Council meeting chaired by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

"There was a problem in terms of disbursement of funds, so Bank Simpanan Nasional had actually written to the Ministry of Finance about that some time ago.

"So MOF has said that they will take steps to make sure that the matter is resolved, and we hope that can be done by the end of April,” he told reporters after launching the Microsoft Elevate initiative here today.

Gobind said efforts to address the issue were already under way and that he would continue monitoring the matter closely to ensure it is resolved within the targeted timeframe.

The media previously reported National Tech Association of Malaysia chairman Alex Liew as saying more than 70 per cent of claims under the programme remained unpaid for over six months, far longer than the earlier communicated timeline of one to two weeks.

The MSME Digital Grant Madani offers matching grants of up to 50 per cent, capped at RM5,000, for Malaysian-owned small and medium enterprises to adopt digital tools such as e-invoicing, point-of-sale systems and marketing tools, with applications managed through Bank Simpanan Nasional. — Bernama