Malaysia’s Investor Protection Ranks Fourth Out Of 178 Economies

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 27 (Bernama) — Malaysia, which ranks 24 out of 178 economies in terms of ease of doing business, emerges with a strong fourth position for investor protection, ahead of regional heavyweights like Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and China, according to World Bank and International Finance Corporation.

Through a statement released by the Securities Commission here today, the Report on Doing Business 2008 for Malaysia said countries were judged based on three indices of investor protection comprising extent of disclosure, extent of director liability and ease of shareholder suits where all indices range from 0-10, with higher values indicating more protections or greater disclosure.

The report noted that Malaysia, which came after New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong, had scored a perfect 10 for extent of disclosure, an equally impressive nine for director liability and seven for shareholder suits.

The report also suggested that starting a business in Malaysia next year would take a lesser period of 24 days compared with 30 days previously, although dealing with licences would remain the same at 25 days.