Kuala lumpur: The government's role is to maintain a credible policy and fiscal framework while using public capital to unlock markets, enabling private capital to play a larger role in driving investment, Minister of Finance II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan said.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, he emphasized that while the government can provide policy certainty and maintain a credible fiscal framework, the responsibility for financing innovation and business expansion must increasingly fall on banks, institutional investors, venture capital firms, and private equity players. "The government can provide certainty, but the market has to take risks," Amir Hamzah stated in his keynote address at the RHB Progress Series 2026.

He elaborated that the government should ensure predictable foundations, while investors are encouraged to embrace the excitement of backing new companies, technologies, and business models before their outcomes become evident. Amir Hamzah highlighted the role of venture capital in taking the earliest risks, with growth capital and private equity financing expansion. He further noted that banks would have a significant role as companies' cash flows strengthen, and public markets would offer an additional capital source as companies mature.

Initiatives such as Khazanah Nasional Bhd's Jelawang Capital and The Retirement Fund (Incorporated) (KWAP)'s Dana Perintis are instrumental in bringing more institutional capital to early-stage companies, Amir Hamzah pointed out, while banks and the capital market offer more substantial funding pools as businesses expand. "The strength of that financing spectrum is in the connections between them, so that a company that proves itself at one stage can find the capital to move naturally into the next," he emphasized.

He also remarked on the global sukuk, describing it as a useful benchmark that demonstrated international investors' strong conviction in Malaysian sovereign risk. Amir Hamzah posed a crucial question to the banks, asset owners, and fund managers present: whether Malaysia's financial system has the expertise and instruments to support promising Malaysian companies earlier in their development. "The standard remains high. The difference is being able to price that risk earlier, rather than waiting for uncertainty to disappear," he added.