KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 (NNN-XINHUA) — The foreign direct investment (FDI) in Malaysia rose to 662.7 billion ringgit (about 159.21 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter this year from 631.2 billion ringgit in the fourth quarter last year, official data showed Thursday.
Malaysian Statistics Department said in a statement that the top three FDI sources were Singapore, Japan and China’s Hong Kong.
Singapore led the FDI at 123.6 billion ringgit or 18.6 percent of the total FDI. Japan and Hong Kong accounted for 13.6 percent (89.9 billion ringgit) and 11.5 percent (76.4 billion ringgit), respectively.
The manufacturing sector remained the highest FDI recipient with 39.9 percent, followed by financial and insurance activities that accounted for 22.8 percent of the total FDI, as well as mining and quarrying sector which made up 7.4 percent of the total share.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s direct investment abroad (DIA) in the first quarter moderated to 486.2 billion ringgit, from 492 billion ringgit in the fourth quarter last year.
The investment was mainly driven by financial and insurance activities (39.6 percent), followed by the mining and quarrying sector (17.9 percent), and the agriculture sector (8.4 percent). (1 U.S. dollar = 4.16 ringgit)
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