kuala lumpur: Malaysia is optimistic that investment growth momentum will continue in 2024 despite external challenges, said Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Zahur Abdul Aziz.
Based on current trends, he expects momentum to continue, buoyed by a double-digit increase in trade in May.
“We are moving in the right direction. Exports to Asean and the US grew by double digits in May. 85 per cent of exports came from manufacturing, particularly the electronics and electrical sector,” he told reporters after the launch of the Centralised Sustainability Intelligence Solution at Bursa Malaysia on Friday.
But there are many difficult issues, he said. “Challenges include issues arising from ongoing trade tensions and geopolitical events such as the US-China trade war,” he added.
Malaysia saw approved investments reach RM83.7 billion in the first three months of 2024, up 13% from the same period last year, creating 29,000 new jobs for Malaysians.
Tengku Zafrul said the main sectors contributing to the approved investment were manufacturing at 51.3% (RM43 billion), services at 47% (RM39.3 billion) and primary industry at 1.7% (RM1.4 billion).
“The breakdown is 56 percent foreign investment and 44 percent domestic investment,” he added.
Austria topped the foreign investor list by a large margin with approved investment of RM30.1 billion (64%), followed by Singapore (RM5.6 billion), the Netherlands (RM3.6 billion), China (RM3.4 billion) and the United States (RM632.8 million).
By state, Kedah had the highest approved investment amount (RM31.3 billion), followed by Kuala Lumpur (RM21.5 billion), Selangor (RM12.4 billion), Sarawak (RM4.2 billion) and Johor (RM4.1 billion).
Targeted sectors set out in the National Investment Objective (NIA) account for 64.1% of the total approved investment across 252 projects, expected to generate RM53.7 billion and create 17,056 new job opportunities.
The NIA is built on five strong pillars – enhancing economic complexity, creating high-value employment opportunities, expanding national linkages, developing new and existing clusters and promoting inclusiveness.
Of the total approved investment, RM47.5 billion (56.8%) is under Miti/Mida’s jurisdiction, covering 500 projects with 18,517 new job opportunities.
