China’s policy on overseas currency transfers is hurting some property development projects in Sabah, reported Daily Express citing a dialogue between Sabah industry players and All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC) vice-president Qiao Wei.
This comes as the new rules made it difficult for China nationals to move money out of their country and acquire property abroad.
Datuk Seri Winston Liau, president of Sabah Tourism Federation, and Kinsabina Group CEO Datuk Gerald Goh lamented that the curb also hindered Chinese firms looking to invest overseas.
With the Chinese government barring individuals from placing their money into overseas markets to acquire homes, house buyers from China, who have made their down payment in Sabah, are now at a loss on how they would make their subsequent payments.
A Chinese home buyer for instance, who paid a 50,000 yuan (RM31,623) deposit for a Kota Kinabalu house, is unable to settle the remaining payments due to his inability to purchase foreign currency to acquire property under the Chinese governments’ capital control rules.
Starting this July, banks and other financial institutions in China are required to report all overseas and domestic cash transactions amounting to over 50,000 yuan (RM31,623), down from 200,000 yuan (RM126,503) previously, revealed a Reuters report.
Banks are also mandated to report overseas transfers of $10,000 or more by individuals.
Qiao noted that China’s rules on yuan transfers are temporary.
“Hopefully, we will resolve the situation through a proper channel,” he told the dialogue, which was initiated by Sabah’s representatives within the Committee of the ACFROC, Datuk Lau Kok Sing and Tan Sri Andrew Liew Sui Fatt.
Image sourced from Twitter
Radin Ghazali, Content Writer at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email radin@propertyguru.com.my
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