KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 9): The government has extended the income tax exemption for Malaysian shipping companies by a decade and introduced fixed stamp duty rates for loans to buy or build ships.
The full income tax exemption, which was set to expire at the end of this year, has been extended to the Year of Assessment 2036, according to the text of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Budget 2027 speech.
This is to “strengthen the domestic maritime industry”, he said.
Stamp duty on loans of up to RM100 million to buy or build ships will be fixed at RM2,000.
The rate will be RM5,000 for loans exceeding that amount.
Standard loan agreements are generally subject to an ad valorem stamp duty rate of 0.5%.
The Bursa Malaysia Transportation & Logistics Index was among the bourse’s top sectoral indices with a 1.19% gain on Friday.