240 high-profile foreign investment projects worth RM81.8b being negotiated, says MIDA
29 Jan 2021
The Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) has identified 240 high-profile foreign investment projects in the manufacturing and services sectors with a combined potential investment value of RM81.8 billion that are being negotiated and targeted in 2021.
MIDA has thus far received and evaluated RM47.7 billion worth of potential investments into the country.
“These projects, once approved, are expected to be implemented within the year 2021 to 2022,” said MIDA in a statement today.
Assuring that investment intentions remain healthy, it said Malaysia recorded a RM109.8 billion worth of approved investments in the economy particularly manufacturing, services and primary sectors for the first nine months of 2020.
“These investments involved 2,935 projects and will create 64,701 jobs opportunities. Foreign direct investments (FDI) accounted for almost 40% (RM42.6 billion). The realisation of these investments over the immediate to medium term will provide support to economic growth in 2021 and beyond.
“The manufacturing sector attracted the largest portion of approved investments for this period, contributing more than half (59.5%) or RM65.3 billion, followed by the services sector (39%/RM42.8 billion), and the primary sector (1.5%/RM1.7 billion),” MIDA revealed.
Investments approved in the manufacturing sector for January to September 2020 saw an increase of 16.6% compared to the corresponding period in 2019 and FDIs particularly in the manufacturing sector increased 3.2% to RM39.4 billion.
“Malaysia has attracted a fair share of multinational corporations in the high-end and high-technology industries including Smith and Nephew, Dexcom, LAM Research, LEM, MusicTribe, and most recently, SK Nexilis.
“Existing companies also continue to expand its operations in Malaysia, illustrating Malaysia’s ongoing value proposition to investors. The companies include Eppendorf, Bosch, B.Braun, Wistron, Western Digital, and Nippon Electric Glass (NEG),” added MIDA.
Looking ahead, it said foreign investment into Malaysia is expected to be sustained at pre-Covid-19 level.
“Being located in the Asia-Pacific rim and the centre of Asean, Malaysia continues to be an attractive investment destination.
“The availability of excellent infrastructure, telecommunication services, financial and banking services, supporting industries as well as a diverse pool of talents with skills and trainable workforce has been pull factors for investors to consider Malaysia.”
It noted that under the National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana), the government had introduced several tax incentives to spur investment activity, including a 10- to 15-year tax exemption for new FDI in the manufacturing sector with capital investment of RM300 million or more.
Other specific initiatives to expedite the realisation of investments are the establishment of the Project Acceleration and Coordination Unit (PACU) and various online platforms including i-Incentive.
MIDA acknowledged that the government is also currently formulating a national investment strategy to attract high-quality investments that can meaningfully enhance Malaysia’s productive capacity, create high-skilled jobs, promote technology transfer and foster domestic linkages.
“As indicated by a recent joint study by KPMG and the Manufacturing Institute in the US entitled “Cost of Manufacturing Operations around the Globe”, Malaysia was ranked fourth among 17 economies, which is ahead of countries in Asia such as China, Japan, Vietnam and India.
“Malaysia was also ranked second in terms of ease of doing business in Asean (12th globally) and for protecting investors according to the World Bank Doing Business Report 2020; fourth globally in handling the Covid-19 crisis according to Blackbox Research and Toluna.”
It further noted that Malaysia according to a recent report by Bloomberg is ranked fifth amongst emerging economies as a key destination for investment and businesses, on the back of potential rapid economic recovery, stable fiscal and financial position and the ability to contain and alleviate the Covid-19 pandemic.
Source: Bernama
