KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysian government is targeting a 20 per cent growth in\u00a0foreign direct investment (FDI) and domestic direct investment (DDI) this year, up from the\u00a0RM163.3 billion\u00a0(US$36.1 billion)\u00a0(US$1 = RM4.52) and RM101.3 billion (US$22.4 billion) recorded in 2022, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
International Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said that although this is a tall order given the challenges, investments are more long-term in nature and companies that look into Malaysia would look at a longer time horizon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo attract investments into Malaysia, what is important is to improve the ease of doing business in the country, the talent pool, infrastructure (physical and digital), and governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat is important is to keep the momentum going and focus on the right sectors and industries. The outcome that we want is not just the multiplier impact to our gross domestic product, but also the creation of high-quality jobs,\u201d he said here Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Malaysia approved total investments worth RM264.6 billion in 2022, the second-largest print ever recorded after 2021, with the services sector accounting for the largest share of the pie, followed by the manufacturing and primary sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The services sector saw approved investments totalling RM154 billion or 58.2 per cent of the total approved investments for the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Approved investments in the manufacturing sector stood at RM84.3 billion (31.9 per cent) and primary sector at RM26.3 billion (9.9 per cent).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Tengku Zafrul said the key reason Tesla is investing in Malaysia is the nation\u2019s well-established electrical and electronics (E&E) sector, where a few local companies are already part of Tesla\u2019s current supply chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey (Tesla) are not just putting their office here. They are also looking at working closely with local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the sector,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The minister also highlighted the importance of productivity and how the new investments must contribute to productivity, hence contributing to higher wages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is key to raising the rakyat\u2019s income level. It is a long game, and in the ease of doing business, we need to ensure that when local or foreign companies want to start up a business, the \u2018ease\u2019 is there because, in the end, it is about productivity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At present, the minister said, Malaysia\u2019s productivity rate is still positive, but the growth is not as fast as some other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is concern that our productivity rate, although in absolute terms is higher than some of our neighbours\u2019, in terms of productivity growth we are slowing down compared to our neighbours. Hence the gap is narrowing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need to make sure that the ease of doing business is one of the areas that we are focusing on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other hand, Tengku Zafrul said, Malaysia needs to strengthen the initial investments that come in, such as from start-ups or SMEs that are part of foreign investments, and the financial industry must play its role in providing this bridging fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Ministry of International Trade and Industry is (also) producing a framework for the manufacturing sector, particularly SMEs, to embrace environmental, social and governance (ESG) in their operations. The framework will be announced by early 2024,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
— NNN-BERNAMA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysian government is targeting a 20 per cent growth in\u00a0foreign direct investment (FDI) and domestic direct investment (DDI) this year, up from the\u00a0RM163.3 billion\u00a0(US$36.1 billion)\u00a0(US$1 = RM4.52) and RM101.3 billion (US$22.4 billion) recorded in 2022, respectively. International Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said that although this is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":80288,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[215,288,300,318],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213680"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=213680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213693,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213680\/revisions\/213693"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/80288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=213680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=213680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=213680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}