KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 (Bernama) -- The government has called on mid-tier companies to help spur Malaysia's economic growth and enhance their contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) from 30 per cent at present.

International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said as 2015 would be a more challenging year due to moderate world's economic growth and declining oil prices, the government has continuously put its efforts in sustaining and stimulating the economy.

This include enhancing the efficiency and productivity among mid-tier companies, he told reporters at the launch of the Mid-Tier Companies Development Programme here today.

The eight-year programme, which started in January last year, is aimed at developing mid-tier companies with a turnover of between RM50 million and RM500 million for the manufacturing sector and between RM20 million and RM500 million for the services sector.

Mustapa said there were only 9,900 mid-tier companies in Malaysia against 662,939 small and medium enterprises.

"Mid-tier companies make up one per cent of the establishments in Malaysia but contribute 30 per cent to the GDP and 22 per cent to the workforce," he said.

He said as mid-tier companies could contribute significantly to the GDP, there should be value-added and complementary policies to help them improve their competitiveness, especially for export markets.

In the first batch of the programme (from January 2014 until February this year), 44 companies that took part have exported RM120 million worth of products.

The programme also aims at producing 480 high-growth companies, 60 regional champions and 21,000 high-income jobs as well as expanding mid-tier companies' contribution to GDP to RM6 billion and their export value to RM15 billion by 2021.