The government will relax all requirements for the issuance of licences and permits to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said the radical move was following an analysis by the World Bank that had found that the SMEs still needed to have too many licences and permits to run their businesses.

"This thing also has some something to do more or less with corruption.

"Because of this, we will make obtaining licences and permits easy. A review will be conducted because it has some connection with competition policy to make it easy for a company to enter particular markets.

"This task will be given to the chief secretary to the government as chairman of Pemudah (the Special Taskforce to Facilitate Business). He can engage with the private sector and submit proposals to the government," he told reporters after chairing the 11th National SME Development Council meeting in Putrajaya today.

He said the meeting also agreed on the introduction of a "green lane" policy on the use of SME products or services by the government and government-linked companies (GLCs).

- Bernama