From left: World Bank analyst Enrique Tamez, Arvind and lead economist Richard Record at the launch of the Doing Business 2019 Report.
Malaysia, which was ranked 15th among 190 countries in World Bank’s Doing Business 2019 Report, is advised to continue with its business-friendly reforms going forward.
The Doing Business Report ranks economies based on their business regulations and the ease of doing business. Data in the 2019 report are current as at May 1, 2018.
At a press conference today, World Bank group senior economist Arvind Jain said the ease of doing business in Malaysia improved significantly this year, jumping nine spots from i24th position a year ago after it carried out six business reforms in the past year.
Arvind said the acceleration in reforms have also helped the country regain its position among the top 20 ranked economies in the world, ahead of the country’s neighbours such as Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Indonesia and Myanmar.
“I hope that the government will continue with their reform agenda to sustain the country’s ranking in the top 20 economies in the world,” he added.
Arvind said the six business reforms implemented covered the areas of starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, trading across borders and resolving insolvency.
According to the report, Malaysia is among the world’s top five performers in several areas, noting that the country is second only to New Zealand in protecting minority investors.
Malaysia has advanced to third in dealing with construction permits.
In obtaining electricity, Malaysia now ranks fourth globally. The report said the cost for businesses to obtain a commercial electricity connection in Malaysia is only 26% of income per capita, compared to an average of 625% in East Asia and Pacific.
However, it said despite the reforms, Malaysia continues to underperform in the area of starting a business, with a global ranking of 122nd.
The report revealed that it takes 9.5 procedures and 13.5 days to register a new business in Malaysia, compared to only two procedures and 1.5 days in Singapore and 3.5 procedures and 5.5 days in Brunei, the region’s best performers.
Meanwhile, International Trade and Industry Minister Darell Leiking said in a statement today that a special task force has been set up to initiate and drive regulatory reforms and improvements within the doing business indicator areas in the country.
“The government will undertake more reform initiatives to further enhance the ease of doing business of a new Malaysia that prospers through business competitiveness,” he added.
