Malaysia’s FDI surges 223pct in first six months: Azmin Ali
14 Oct 2021
Foreign direct investments (FDIs) in Malaysia surged 223.1 per cent year-on-year in the first half of the year despite the ongoing Covid-19, said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.
Azmin, who is also Senior Minister, said FDI, together with domestic direct investment (DDI), had played a significant part in growing the economy.
“We place top priority on FDI and DDI as it gives a positive impact on growth,” said Azmin at the virtual Invest Malaysia 2021 conference today.
Malaysia approved RM107.5 billion of FDI and DDI in the manufacturing, services and primary sectors during the six months, up 70 per cent over the same period last year.
The investments involved 2,110 projects and are expected to generate 45,000 job opportunities.
Azmin said the country’s total trade saw a steady increase with exports growing 18.4 per cent to RM95.6 billion in August, continuing the trend of double-digit growth since February.
“Bank Negara Malaysia has projected that our export growth for 2021 is at 8.2 er cent, driven mainly by increased external demand from major trading partners like Asean, China and the United States.
“An increasing number of capital-intensive projects approved by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority will help create a wide spectrum of high-value and skilled employment opportunities,” he added.
Azmin said Malaysia continued to attract high value, high-tech investments because of its pool of high-skilled talents and readiness to adopt advanced technology.
Malaysia will continue to target high quality, technology-oriented investments in new growth areas that also focus on long-term sustainability that is compatible with the environmental, social and governance goals.
Besides that, the government will continue to implement open, transparent, and business-friendly trade and investment policies in order to strengthen the country’s economic fundamentals.
This included the ongoing efforts by the government to ratify the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, he said.
With all sectors of the economy up and running with commercial and retail coming back to life, Azmin said the country’s economy was well on the road to recovery.
“Additionally, state borders are reopened and Malaysians are now allowed to travel overseas. We believe this development will provide impetus for the economy to recover,” he added.
Source: NST
