Malaysia to ease rules on foreign investment: report

Malaysia to ease rules on foreign investment: report

Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia will ease procedures for foreigners to buy property
and major stakes in local companies as part of efforts to boost
the country's competitiveness, reports said on Saturday.

The move follows a series of reform initiatives by Prime
Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to cut red tape and increase
government transparency since taking over as premier from
Mahathir Mohamad last year, the New Straits Times said.

From August, rules for property transactions as well as
acquisitions of interests, mergers and takeovers of local
companies for foreign investors under the Foreign Investment
Committee (FIC) will be simplified to cut down the current two
months' processing time, the newspaper said.

Investors will be required only to make a declaration in a
prescribed format that they have or will fulfill the conditions
stipulated, it said.

Abdullah, who is also finance minister, was quoted as saying
that the move was in line with the government's aim to be more
investor-friendly. The FIC will thus become a facilitator, rather
than a clearing house of applications, he said.

"The onus therefore, is on those making the declarations to
fulfill their obligations. This new approach operates on the
principle of self-assessment, self-disclosure and trust as well
as corporate and individual responsibility," he said.

Although Malaysia has sufficient domestic liquidity, foreign
investment is key to ensuring technology transfer in its quest to
become a knowledge-based economy by 2020 and reduce a serious
budget deficit, analysts said.