KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s manufacturing sector was the leading approved investment sector for 2021 with projects worth RM195.1 billion.
The Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) recently reported that the manufacturing sector saw a major increase of 113.7% in 2021 comparing to RM91.3 billion made in 2020.
The second highest sector was the services sector, followed by the primary sector. Each of these sectors made RM94.1 billion and RM17.3 billion respectively.
Within the manufacturing sector, the electrical and electronics industry got the most investment opportunities. It received 94 approved projects worth RM148 billion.
Aside from this, Malaysia also had high number of investments in the basic metal products industry that got RM19.4 billion. The chemicals and chemical product industry tied with rubber products as both received RM5.8 billion in investment. This was followed by the food manufacturing industry with RM5.4 billion.
Spurring job opportunities
The large draw of investments to the manufacturing sector created a demand for jobs.
MIDA said that a total of 74,575 job opportunities were and will be offered. Out of that amount, 28,696 of these jobs are managerial, technical, supervisory and skilled (MTS) positions.
After securing 75 capital intensive projects worth more than RM100 million, MIDA said the projects will spur growth of new advanced manufacturing technologies and produce a highly-skilled workforce.
The manufacturing sector was generating significant multiplier effects on the nation’s activities and growth in 2021. The MTS index shows number of job opportunities in these positions increased to 38.5% in 2021.
Aside from that, the number of quality projects approved increased to 81.3% in 2021.
Services sector expanding
In 2021, Malaysia secured 3,803 projects in the services sector. The approved investments total up to RM94.1 billion.
For that year, the Domestic Direct Investment (DDI) was RM69.2 billion compared to the RM63.5 billion in 2020. This showed that Malaysia had inherent strength to further service exports.
The services sector saw the real estate industry as the largest contributor with RM28.8 billion. It was followed by global establishments with RM19.7 billion, financial services (RM12.0 billion), utilities (RM9.6 billion) and information and communications (RM8.2 billion).
All the contributions attributed to 36.6% growth compared to 2020, with its value at RM78.3 billion.
Mining leads primary sector
Meanwhile, the primary sector had RM17.3 billion of approved investments last year. In 2020, the sector contributed RM6.1 billion.
The lead contributor for this sector was mining where RM17.1 billion (98.7%) total investments was derived. This was driven primarily by higher crude oil and natural gas prices.
The other sub-sectors were plantation and commodities with RM211.4 million, and agriculture with RM20.5 million.
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