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Malaysia Shortens Processing Time To Woo Foreign InvestorsSeptember 06, 2006 14:19 PM
Malaysia Shortens Processing Time To Woo Foreign Investors
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 (Bernama) -- The Foreign Investment Committee (FIC) will shorten the processing time for property registration and business licensing to 10 days from 100 days previously in a bid to tap more foreign investment.
However, it could take longer to process applications with incomplete data, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Abdul Rahman Suliman said in the Dewan Rakyat Wednesday.
"The FIC is also responsible in ensuring that the New Economic Policy is implemented according to its original intention (which is to increase the economic share of the bumiputeras). As such, the FIC will have to check all applications carefully.
"Nevertheless, we can give an assurance that the process of registering property and applying for business licences will take only 10 days if the application forms submitted are complete," he said in reply to Datuk Mohamed Sarit Yusoh (BN-Temerloh).
The shorter processing time is expected to put Malaysia on a level playing field with its regional neighbours, Thailand and Singapore, which have set a 10-day limit to process applications for property registration and business licences from foreign investors.
But investors willing to come to Malaysia will enjoy lower corporate tax. In its 2007 expansionary budget, Malaysia will gradually cut down corporate tax from the current 28 per cent to 27 per cent next year, and subsequently to 26 percent in 2008 to make the country attractive to foreign investors.
Foreign investment in Malaysia totalled RM7.6 billion in the first seven months of this year, according to International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz Tuesday.
The major investors in Malaysia are from Japan, the Netherlands, the United States, Australia, Singapore and South Korea.
Malaysia's trade performance last year increased 9.9 per cent to RM967.8 billion. Economic growth was forecast at 5.8 per cent this year and the country is expected to sustain the figure in the next five years.
-- BERNAMA
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