Doing business in Malaysia 2020

Malaysia has over the last 60 years developed from a primary commodities exporter (e.g. oil and gas and palm oil) to a strong industrial base for multinational corporations in electrical and electronics, and petroleum and chemical products.

In the last decade, as it moved up the industry value chain, Malaysia has emerged as an attractive regional hub for services, including financial services, information and communications technology (ICT) and logistics sectors.

Malaysia is increasingly being recognised as an innovative international Islamic financial centre. It is also emerging as a springboard for regional expansion into Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in view of its strategic, central location and multilingual “Truly Asia” mix of Malay, Chinese and Indian populace.

Whilst COVID-19 is expected to dampen foreign direct investment (FDI) sentiment globally, Malaysia is a well placed destination for investments for companies looking for opportunities to diversify their supply chain and operation amidst ongoing trade and geo-political tension affecting US, China and India. 

Malaysia offers a dynamic and vibrant business environment with well-developed infrastructure and productive workforce, supported by a market- oriented economy and pro-business Government policies. 

This Guide has been prepared to assist those interested in doing business in Malaysia. The coverage of the subjects is not exhaustive but is intended to deal with some of the more important and/or broad questions that may arise.

The material contained in this Guide is based on legislation as at 30 June 2020, unless otherwise indicated.