KUALA LUMPUR – The National Recovery Council (NRC) has proposed for the government to consider “exempting Bumiputera equity ownership requirement for land acquisition exceeding RM20 million for foreign investment in the services sector for two years”.
Its chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said this suggestion came as one of the recommendations deemed appropriate to optimise impact and enhance national competitiveness to speed up the country’s recovery efforts.
“Mida (Malaysian Investment Development Authority) reported that foreign investment worth RM58 billion could not be realised as investors faced constraints to meet this condition.
“This condition can be imposed again when the economy has fully recovered post-pandemic.
“This step has been taken by the government before this when the country was facing an economic crisis,” he said in a press conference after chairing a council meeting this morning.
He added that the council recommended for the government to formulate initiatives and assistance to increase the capacity of tourism industry players, who have been impacted for two years in order to take advantage of the border reopening.
However, he cautioned that the country must be vigilant as it is faced by global challenges which include the Ukraine-Russia war, the Covid-19 situation in China with the risk of a prolonged lockdown as well as the emergence of new variants.
“This is a global problem and it would affect the food supply chain and accelerate inflation.
“I think it is important if we can increase the production of our country for instance, food ingredients which have been produced but not yet on the self-sufficient level – that is why we are still importing.
“When we import, we are forced to pay a higher price, and that is why the consumers in our country have no choice but to pay a hefty price and it burdens them.”
Meanwhile, he added that the states in the country are expected to have their own recovery committees soon, saying “they are still relevant to aid in recovery”.
“This is because local authorities have the duty and responsibility of resolving issues that are very localised. The cabinet has approved (the proposal) and is only awaiting the signature of the prime minister for the state recovery committee to be formed.”
He also said NRC has plans to conduct an inaugural national conference by the end of the year to present its plans for the country’s recovery. – The Vibes, May 17, 2022
