The Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ACCCIM) has expressed its hope that any new government after the 14th general election will maintain Malaysia’s relationship with China to bring in more investment.

"We need to continue to work hand in hand with China to bring in more investments.

"China has become one of the biggest economic countries in the world, especially with the One Belt One Road initiative, and Malaysia has had a good relationship with China all this while.

"Therefore to continue work with China is an important policy, and we have been doing well with China in terms of trade. So if this continues, I think we will be okay," ACCCIM president Ter Leong Yap (below) told a press conference today at its Kuala Lumpur headquarters.

When asked about whether Pakatan Harapan's promise to abolish GST if it wins GE14 will impact on the business environment, however, Ter declined to comment.

Improving economy

ACCCIM also revealed the results of its survey on Malaysia’s economic situation for the second half of 2017 (2H2017), which showed a slight overall improvement.

"Based on the results, some 63 percent of respondents opined that the Malaysian economy had either grown or remained unchanged in 2H2017.

“For the last survey period, the corresponding figure was 55 percent.

"Some 18 percent of respondents believe that there were signs of economic recovery, a rise of three percent from the results in the previous survey.

"In summary, businesses felt that the Malaysian economy had shown a slight improvement in the second half of 2017," the report said.

The survey revealed that 73 percent of respondents said their firms' sales performance for the period could be categorised as "good" or "satisfactory."

Production volume for the period under survey appeared to move in tandem with sales, with 16 percent noting that their volume had increased.

Seven percent of respondents also stated that they had larger inventories, indicating increased confidence in their ability to keep more stock.

Generally optimistic

The ACCCIM stated that the Chinese business community is optimistic about the economic outlook for 2018, with continuous improvements expected in 2019 and 2020.

"About 55 percent of respondents were optimistic about the economic outlook for Malaysia for the year 2018, being a rise of six percent from 49 percent as noted in the previous survey. This optimistic sentiment is seen to improve gradually in the following two years, being 63 percent in 2019 and 71 percent in 2020.

"Accordingly, there appear to be greater levels of optimism about the future of the Malaysian economy for 2018, 2019 and 2020.”

About 92 percent of respondents believed that inflation would continue to rise.

As for the Employment Insurance System (EIS), 50 percent of respondents said they had completed registration for the scheme. 83 percent were aware of the required contribution rate of 0.2 percent of monthly wages by employer and employee.

The respondents of the ACCCIM survey are mainly from wholesale and retail trade (22.6 percent), manufacturing (21 percent), professional and business services (16.2 percent), construction (8.5 percent), tourism, shopping, hotels, restaurants, recreation and entertainment (8.2 percent), transportation, forwarding and warehousing (5.1 percent), real estate (4.4 percent), finance and insurance (4.1 percent), and others (9.9 percent).