The Malaysian government has said it will but a halt on the setting up of new hypermarkets in certain areas for five years, starting from 1 January 2004.

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A government minister said authorities would freeze licences to develop new hypermarkets in Malaysia’s three largest cities: Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding areas, Penang and Johor Bahru, reported Reuters.

“We will not entertain any applications to set up hypermarkets in those cities,” Domestic Trade Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is reported to have said.

The announcement will come as bad news to foreign retailers such as France’s Carrefour, the UK’s Tesco and Hong Kong’s Dairy Farm.

The Malaysian government has been making various moves to try to protect local retails buy curbing the expansion of foreign retailers. Last year it ruled that applications for new hypermarkets must be submitted two years in advance and socio-economic impact studies carried out.

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