Plan in place for more FDIs
12 Sep 2023
Govt will boost productivity by hastening transition to high-value industries, says PM
The government aims to make Malaysia the preferred destination for investors by strengthening its competitiveness.
During the presentation of the midterm review of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the main step would be to improve the business environment by improving business rules, including through the MyMudah unit.
“This step will directly boost domestic direct investment, which will attract more foreign direct investment (FDI).
“Private investment is targeted to grow by 6.4 per cent per year, or an average of RM300 billion per year, in the final period of 12MP.”
He said the government would strengthen productivity by hastening the transition to high-value industries and adopting advanced technology and improving skilled talent.
Anwar said the government would continue to work with the private sector and academia to improve productivity.
“Multifactor productivity on average is expected to contribute as much as 42.8 per cent to gross domestic product (GDP) growth, with labour productivity expected to record a growth of 3.8 per cent per year.”
With these two steps, he said, the government was expecting at least five per cent growth per year during the 12MP.
He said the government would implement levies for various job levels in the near future.
He said the policy of foreign workers not exceeding 15 per cent of the workforce would continue.
This was to ensure employment opportunities for citizens and the transition to automation and mechanisation.
He added that the government would intensify efforts to ensure that women’s participation rate in the workforce reached the target of 60 per cent within 10 years.
“Measures to encourage women to stay or return to work will be increased through the provision of facilities and support, such as childcare, financial incentives and flexible working hours.
“Among the programmes implemented include the MamaCare initiative, affordable childcare centre incentives, Career Return Programme, and nursery fee subsidies at work.”
He said the role of women in the care economy would be recognised to increase their participation in the labour market.
He said this could also address the challenge of shrinking employment as a result of the country’s ageing trend.
The government would improve special needs’ individuals access to jobs, he said.
Information about job seekers for the group would be integrated in the MyFutureJobs portal, he said.
“Standard operating procedures for hiring disabled people in the public service will be improved to reach the target of one per cent disabled people in the public service.”
On another matter, he said the government was targeting to be ranked in the top 25 nations in the Human Development Index (HDI) in the next 10 years.
“The benefits of the economic progress experienced can also be felt by the people as shown in the global and domestic indicators.
“Malaysia recorded encouraging achievements in human development based on its 2021 HDI ranking of 62nd out of 191 countries.
“(However), we are aiming (to improve further by getting into) the top 25 within 10 years.”
He added that the People’s WellBeing Index in Malaysia had increased by 1.3 per cent per year.
Incomes had also improved, with the average monthly household income incre asing to RM8,479 in 2022 compared with RM7,901 in 2019.
Source: NST
