Mida sees 35% increase in foreign investments in first half of year

The Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) recorded a 35.3% increase in foreign investments to RM26.5bil in the first half of this year, mainly in the manufacturing and primary sector.

Mida said in astatement that China was the largest major investor this year as foreign investments increased from RM19.6bil in the previous corresponding period.

Despite rising competition and a challenging external environment, Mida said Malaysia remained a competitive investment location for foreign investors.

Mida said China accounted for RM6.5bil or 43% of the total foreign investments, followed by South Korea (16%), Japan (10%), Singapore (5%) and France (4%).

Notable investments include a new manufacturing project from China for the basic metals industry that involves utilising “blast furnace” technology that not only produces quality end-products at a cheaper cost but can also contribute to a greener steel-making process.

“This project, which offers 98% of its total job opportunities to Malaysians, is expected to reduce imports of intermediate goods and will strengthen the metal and steel industry,” Mida added.

It also cited an expansion project by a French industry leader in thiochemicals technologies to produce high value added sulfur derivatives.

The project, which will create an additional 33 job opportunities, is set to support the strong growth of the animal feed, petrochemical and refining markets in the region.

Others include a tier 1 aerospace company from UK that will set up its new aero engine component repair plant in Johor by 2019.

Mida said domestic investments led RM53.7bil, contributing 67% to the approved investments in all three sectors.

“The performance of the domestic investments also saw a rise of 10.5% from RM48.6bil in the same period last year,” Mida said.

Source: The Star