Malaysia Aims To Be Among Top 10 In World Bank's Doing Business Report

PETALING JAYA (Selangor, Malaysia), June 6 (Bernama) -- Malaysia aims to be ranked among the top 10 in the World Bank's "Doing Business Report" several years from now, said Yong Poh Kon, the Co-Chair of the Special Taskforce to Facilitate Business (PEMUDAH). He said Malaysia was currently ranked 18th after occupying the 23rd spot in 2011. The annual report is published every October to indicate ranks for the following year. Yong said Malaysia had proved, and would have to continue proving to the World Bank and other economies, that the nation was serious in transforming its business-doing agenda. "This in turn will reflect better rankings in surveys and reports. "In the 2012 report released by the World Bank last year, Malaysia was placed fourth in protecting investors and number one in providing credit. "We have also recorded a huge improvement in rankings such as for Starting a Business, from being 111th previously to 50th now," he told reporters after the forum on "World Bank Methodology Workshop in Dealing with Construction Permits". According to the World Bank, Malaysia is ranked 31st in the segment for Enforcing Contracts, a jump from 60th position previously, while leaping 10 places to the 47th spot in Resolving Insolvency. Yong said to achieve the top 10 position, everyone in the public and private sectors must work together. "Though we are not driven by the World Bank report rankings alone, it provides us with an opportunity to see how much we have progressed and more importantly, the effectiveness of our initiatives. "From the report, we are able to gauge Malaysia's efforts in comparison with other nations and what needs to be done to further improve," he added. Meanwhile, Yong said the only area which Malaysia failed to improve in terms of rankings, according to the "Doing Business Report 2012" is the Construction Permits indicator. Malaysia fell to 113th place from 111th position previously. He said the reason for the fall was the misconception by the World Bank that Malaysia is still practicing the old system in issuing construction permits which take a longer approval period compared to other economies. "The government has actually been transforming the construction permits segment from 2007. "However, the transformation and the improvement, was not addressed by the World Bank respondents in the report survey. At times, the respondents will also not be credible. "As negotiations for the 2013 "Doing Business Report" is closed, we expect the improvements to be better reflected in rankings in the report, to be launched next year," he said. -- BERNAMA