Malaysia Builders Hit by Tax Amid Worst Slump Since 1998
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UEM Sunrise Bhd., Malaysia’s biggest developer by market value, said it faces lower profit margins from a new tax and may delay some projects amid the nation’s steepest slump in property sales since the 1998 recession.
The company’s costs will rise as a 6 percent goods and services tax starting in April 2015 boosts prices of building materials that can’t be passed on for some projects, Izzaddin Idris, an executive director at the Kuala Lumpur-based firm, said in an e-mail interview on Aug. 3. UEM is “revisiting” some of its planned developments as the current slowdown might last for another year, he said.