News about ST

  PETALING JAYA (October 11): Rehda Institute chairman Datuk Jeffrey Ng is glad to see the government recognising the issues faced by first time homebuyers and offering solutions, including promoting Rent-to-Own (RTO) schemes to lower the entry barrier for them.

  PETALING JAYA (Oct 11): While the government’s move to reinstate the maintenance of low and medium cost strata housing is laudable, it is likely that the state of these houses will fall back to square one if the real issue is not tackled, according to the Malaysian Institute of Property and Facility Managers (MIPFM).

  PETALING JAYA (OCT 11): The Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia (Rehda) hopes that more government incentives will be forthcoming to further spur the property market after the Home Ownership Campaign 2019 (HOC 2019) ends Dec 31, 2019.

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 11): Pragmatic, carefully curated to benefit the rakyat across ethnic groups and with timely incentives to reduce the country's dependence on foreign labour — these are among the comments from Malaysia's top bankers on Budget 2020, which was tabled in Parliament today by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

PETALING JAYA (October 11): Master Builders Association of Malaysia (MBAM) president Foo Chek Lee believes that the infrastructure projects proposed under Budget 2020 which was tabled in Parliament today will help the construction industry and stimulate the growth of about 140 downstream industries.

  PETALING JAYA (Oct 11): It is a very “low-profile” budget overall, observes the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) senior fellow Dr Carmelo Ferlito.

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 11): The government has proposed to raise the minimum wage to RM1,200 per month for those in major cities only, effective 2020.

  PETALING JAYA (OCT 11): Although encouraged by some of the government’s Budget 2020 announcements today that focus on stimulating the property market, the Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents’ (MIEA) immediate past president Eric Lim said overall, Budget 2020 was “slightly below his expectations”.

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 11):  The government will introduce a new tax band for those earning over RM2 million a year, which will see them taxed 30% — two percentage points more than the 28% currently applied to those earning over RM1 million.

PETALING JAYA (Oct 11): The government will revise the real property gains tax (RPGT) imposed on the disposal of properties after a five-year period, by individual citizens and permanent residents.