KUALA LUMPUR (July 16): Malaysia recorded RM37.4 billion worth of approved investments in the manufacturing, services and primary sectors in the first quarter (1Q) of this year, of which 70.4% or RM26.3 billion comprised direct domestic investment (DDI).
In a statement today, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) said the top five sources of foreign direct investment (FDI) were Switzerland with RM2.7 billion investment, Singapore (RM2.1 billion), the United States (RM2.0 billion), China (RM1.4 billion) and Japan (RM0.9 billion).
"Malaysia continues to attract investors and is poised to be a global supply chain hub in Asia. We have a strong presence of high-quality local suppliers and businesses in our industrial ecosystem,” Senior Minister and International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said.
“Coupled with the many other value propositions, we trust that Malaysia will continue to be an attractive location for global companies to incorporate diversity and flexibility into their supply chains,” he added.
The minister noted that the coronavirus and its bearing had caused investors to reconsider their business strategies and postpone investment decisions.
“While every crisis comes with profound challenges, these are also moments of great opportunities to shift gears and set sights on greener pastures.
“We may not be able to reach the pre-Covid-19 crisis level of investments this year. However, we will not stop [being] aggressive in our promotional efforts to retain and attract more foreign and domestic investments to revive the economy,” he said.
Elaborating on the investments, MIDA said the manufacturing sector was the largest contributor to the value of approved investments in 1Q20 at RM25.2 billion, followed by the services sector (RM11.9 billion) and the primary sector (RM0.3 billion).
These investments involved 892 projects and would create over 19,100 jobs for the country, the agency said.
MIDA said five states — Sabah, Penang, Selangor, Johor and Kuala Lumpur — contributed RM30.0 billion (80.1%) to the total approved investments for January to March 2020.
In terms of number of approved projects, the services sector was the top contributor during the quarter, accounting for 70%.
“These investments involved 669 services projects that will add over 3,400 new jobs to the economy. Of the total, domestic investments represented 97.5% or RM11.6 billion, while foreign investments accounted for 2.5% or RM0.3 billion,” said the agency.
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