| Malaysia at 24th Position in World Bank Report
Malaysia was placed at 24th position out of a total of 178 economies in the World Bank Doing Business 2008 Report, released yesterday.
Evaluation was done on regulations facing investors in 10 categories, which included business start-up; business operation (such as obtaining licences; employing workers; registering property; investor protection; credit; ) taxation; trade; and closure. The rankings were based on each country's average score of the criteria.
Singapore topped the list on the Ease of Doing Business. Among the Asean countries, Thailand was ranked 15 th; Brunei , a newcomer in the survey was ranked at 78. Vietnam was ranked at 91, Indonesia was in 123rd position; the Philippines at 133rd, while Cambodia was ranked at 145 and Laos at 164.
The giant economies in Asia- China and India were ranked at 83 and 120 respectively.
Malaysia, which in February this year set up a high-level Special Task Force to Facilitate Business (Pemudah), jointly headed by the Chief Secretary to the Government, Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan and the President of the Federation Of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) Tan Sri Yong Poh Kong. Pemudah has been entrusted to undertake reforms to improve the ease and cost of doing business in the country.
A number of new initiatives have been introduced such as company incorporation which can now be done in one day from the previous five days and approval of work permits in seven days from the earlier 14 days. The Government is committed to improve the business environment in the country and Pemudah has continued to undertake the necessary reforms to achieve this objective.
Commenting on the World Bank's findings, FMM President said that the results might not have included the initiatives introduced by the work of Pemudah to reduce the time taken for a number of approvals, as the survey covered the period between April last year and June, which was before the formation of Pemudah.
Adapted from New Straits Times 27 Sept 2007 and DoingBusiness website |
