A STABLE ringgit and consistent policies are what businesses in Malaysia want from the Pakatan Harapan government, a survey by a global research institute has found.

Minimising red tape and regulatory burdens are other priorities that businesses polled in the What Worries Malaysia survey by Ipsos Business Consulting want the new government to focus on, said Ipsos country head for Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines Kiranjit Singh.

“The main parameter of our research is why businesses would want to invest in Malaysia.

“They are worried about uncertainty in government policies. The thing is, there is a lot of information, but they say sometimes, they get conflicting information.

“For businesses to operate, there must be clarity. It doesn’t matter what kind of policy there is. At least, they know what the rules of the game are,” he said when presenting the survey findings at the Ipsos headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

The survey saw personal interviews being held with more than 150 companies in June and last month. It focused on large local enterprises, local small and medium enterprises, and multinational companies (MNCs).

“The survey involved almost 100% of the (types of) businesses operating in Malaysia,” said Singh.

He said although businesses are generally optimistic about long-term investments in Malaysia, they hope that the government will communicate more effectively with them.

“Not so much about transparency, but more of clear policies, on what they intend to do to clear the current ambiguity.

“They don’t want the government to detail in a 100-page document all of the micro aspects, but at least, you know the way forward.

“It could be anything – foreign workers, mega construction projects, etc.”

The survey found that large local enterprises are worried about uncertainty in government policies, contract-related issues and the depreciation of the ringgit.

Local SMEs, on the other hand, are concerned about new regulations, whereas MNCs are worried about the costs involved following the abolishment of the goods and services tax.

“The MNCs are not concerned about the roll-out of the sales and services tax regime. It is the cost reversal from GST to SST that concerns them,” said Singh.

“Because their sales structure is more complex, it will require them to recalibrate their books and so on.”

He said he hopes the GST abolishment will increase businesses’ revenue.

“With the GST gone, hopefully, consumer spending will increase, and they will have more things to sell.” – August 14, 2018.