KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) said that the country had economic growth with approved investments worth RM306.5 billion in 2021.
Senior Minister and Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI), Dato’ Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, said that the country is still an attractive investment destination to global and regional business expansions.
This was because the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Domestic Direct Investment (DDI) that showed an increase to 83.1% in 2021 compared to 2020.
“Malaysia’s robust business ecosystem has enabled us to secure strategic investments and forge new trade relationships. It sets us on a course that will propel our economy to greater heights,” the minister said during MIDA’s Annual Media Conference 2022 recently.
He also said that the easing of pandemic containment measures allowed for economic activities to resume. It goes hand-in-hand with high vaccination rates among various industries and professionals.
“Efforts like policies, talent upskilling and reskilling, digitalisation, and automation are put in place to ensure the country’s business ecosystem stays relevant to global trends. These measures successfully placed our economy on a solid path towards economy growth and sustainable recovery,” he added.
MIDA revealed that the FDI’s performance accounted for 68.1% of approved investments, valuing at RM208.6 billion. This was compared to the RM64.2 billion in 2020; an increase of 224.9%. Meanwhile, the DDI totalled at RM97.9 billion and complemented FDI’s performance with 31.9% of total investment value.
Among the approved investment sectors, Malaysia’s manufacturing sector topped the list. It raked in a total of RM195.1 billion. This was followed by the services sector (RM94.1 billion) and primary sector (RM17.3 billion).
The states with highest recorded investments approved in 2021 was Penang with RM83.5 billion recorded. Kedah ranked second with RM68.3 billion and was followed by Kuala Lumpur (RM37.7 billion), Selangor (RM28.8 billion) and Sarawak (RM25.7 billion).
The five states contributed to 79.6% of 2021’s total approved investments.
The Netherlands (RM78 billion), Singapore (RM47.3 billion), People’s Republic of China (PRC) (RM31.3 billion), Austria (RM18.9 billion) and Japan (RM9.9 billion) accounted for 88.9% of total FDI approved in the manufacturing, services and primary sectors.
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