Malaysia lifts migrant worker ban after 16 months

[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia will let foreign workers back into the country after an almost 16-month hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, its prime minister said on Friday.

The agreement reached by the government's pandemic taskforce on foreign workers has been hotly anticipated by vital sectors like palm oil plantations and rubber glove manufacturing which rely on migrant labour.

"The Special Committee on Pandemic Management today agreed with the proposed standard operating procedures for the entry of foreign workers into Malaysia, especially to meet the needs of the plantation sector," Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said in a statement.

Migrant worker quotas and entry dates for other industries are still being ironed out, he said.

Malaysia is reliant on some two million documented migrant workers to produce everything from gloves to iPhone parts.

Last month, the government said it would prioritise the return of 32,000 workers for the plantation sector to ease a severe labour crunch that hammered production for the world's second largest palm oil producer.

The rubber gloves industry had also appealed to the government to allow foreign workers to return to meet growing demand this year and next.

REUTERS