Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan delivered a keynote address at the RHB Progress Series 2026 on August 6, outlining the respective roles of Malaysia's government and private sector in financing investment and driving economic growth [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

Azizan emphasized the government's role in maintaining a credible policy and fiscal framework that provides certainty and uses public capital to unlock markets. "Government can provide policy certainty and must ensure that the economic fundamentals remain stable and predictable," he said [1, 5]. He added, "The government can provide certainty, but the market has to take risks. The government should make the foundations predictable, while investors should make the possibilities exciting by backing new companies, technologies and business models before the outcomes are obvious" [2].

Financing innovation and business expansion, Azizan said, must increasingly come from banks, institutional investors, venture capital firms, and private equity players rather than relying heavily on public funding [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. He explained that venture capital takes the earliest risks, followed by growth capital and private equity supporting expansions. Banks then play a bigger role as companies’ cash flows strengthen, while public markets provide capital to mature firms [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

Azizan highlighted initiatives like Khazanah Nasional’s Jelawang Capital and KWAP’s Dana Perintis, which bring institutional capital to early-stage companies, helping to bridge funding gaps at critical stages [1, 2, 3, 4]. He stressed the importance of connectivity across the financing spectrum, saying, "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" [1].

The Malaysian financial system, he noted, needs expertise and instruments to back promising companies earlier by pricing risk proactively rather than waiting for uncertainties to fade. "The question for the banks, asset owners and fund managers in this room is whether our own financial system has the expertise and instruments to back good Malaysian companies earlier in their journey... The difference is being able to price that risk earlier, rather than waiting for uncertainty to disappear" [4].

Azizan also pointed to the global sukuk market as providing a benchmark, with international investors showing strong confidence in Malaysian sovereign risk [1, 2, 3, 4].

His remarks define a clear division of responsibility: the government will maintain policy stability and fiscal credibility, while the market must be prepared to take risks and invest in new business models and technologies ahead of clear returns.

The next steps involve private investors, banks, and fund managers expanding their role in financing earlier stages of business growth, supported by government efforts to keep foundations stable and transparent [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].