Business Environment
According to World Bank, Malaysia ranks 18th in Ease of doing business. Malaysia's strengths in the rank includes getting credit (rank 1st), protecting investors (ranked 4th) and doing trade across borders (ranked 29th). Weaknesses include dealing with construction permits (ranked 113th). The study ranks 183 countries in all aspect of doing business. In the investor protection category of the survey, Malaysia had scored a perfect 10 for the extent of disclosure, nine for director liability and seven for shareholder suits. Malaysia is behind Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand in investor protection category of the survey.
The government is moving towards a more business friendly environment by setting up a special task force to facilitate business called PEMUDAH, which means "simplifier" in Malay. Highlights includes easing restrictions and requirement to hire expatriates, shorten time to do land transfers and increasing the limit of sugar storage (a controlled item in Malaysia) for companies. The Government aims to be in the top 10 in the Ease of doing business survey before 2010 in order to attract even more foreign investors.
The efforts of PEMUDAH is beginning to show fruits as their ranking improved to number 20 in 2009, with marked improvement in four areas: getting credit; dealing with construction permits; paying taxes; and enforcing contracts.
Read more about this topic: Northern Corridor Economic Region
Famous quotes containing the words business and/or environment:
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