On 2 March, Senior Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that states still under the Movement Control Order (MCO) will return to the Conditional MCO on 5 March. He added that they will join Kedah, Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan, Perak and Sarawak as those under the CMCO. The rest of the country will be placed under Recovery MCO (RMCO).

The government is moving to slowly reopen Malaysia to business travellers, after most of the country is slated to enter the recovery movement control order this week. The Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) said Putrajaya welcomes the entry of business travellers to carry out business operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Residents of the city and Selangor may move between both without special permission but must apply to the police in order to enter Putrajaya for non-work reasons, Senior Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said on 2 March. Responding to requests for clarifications regarding his announcement on the MCO earlier, Ismail explained that Selangor and the two federal territories were considered a unified zone.

Amid challenging global economic environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Malaysia recorded a total of RM164 billion in approved investments through 4,599 projects in the manufacturing, services and primary sectors in 2020, according to the International Trade and Industry Ministry (MITI).

The COVID-19 pandemic has raged on for almost a year and continues to create significant challenges for a variety of business sectors. At the beginning of the crisis, many industry trends accelerated as people rapidly adapted their behaviours to meet health and safety requirements. Consumers, many of whom had already embraced e-commerce, jumped onto the Internet in even greater numbers.

The ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey is conducted quarterly to measure employers’ intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees in their workforces during the next quarter. ManpowerGroup’s comprehensive forecast of employer hiring plans has been running for more than 55 years and is one of the most trusted surveys of employment activity in the world.

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Join the region’s largest AmCham event of 2021 from 9-11 March for a rare opportunity to engage with industry leaders and government representatives from the U.S. and across the Asia Pacific region.

All morning plenary sessions will be taking place virtually, with afternoon in-person industry breakout discussions for each of the 14 AmCham Committees to be held at Marina Bay Sands Singapore.

Purchase your virtual pass now. Tickets for the afternoon in-person events are pending government approval, and we will notify you once registration for the in-person tickets is live.

As we approach the one-year mark of the global coronavirus crisis, it is heartening to see that many organizations have stepped up to the challenge, adapting their businesses both to protect their employees and to continue serving their customers and communities. In a recent survey, 80 percent of executives told us they believe their organizations have responded effectively to the pandemic.