MIDA Approves Investments Of US$46.72 Billion For 4,972 Projects

KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) approved investments of US$46.72 billion (RM207.9 billion) for 4,972 projects in the manufacturing, services and primary sectors in 2016. This is a 7.7 per cent increase from the investments of RM193 billion approved in 2015. Malaysia's International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed said Malaysia continued to sustain its investment growth momentum, despite the slowdown in world economies which led to weak aggregate demand, volatile international financial markets, subdued commodity prices, uncertain economic policies and more intense regional competition, among others. "Malaysia has been more selective in its investment agenda, preferring quality projects in targeted ecosystems that have a significant knock-on effect throughout the domestic economy," he said, when announcing the country's 2016 investment performance, here Thursday. Of the total investments, 71.6 per cent or RM148.9 billion was derived from domestic investors, with the remaining 28.4 per cent or RM59.0 billion coming from foreign direct investments (FDIs). Mustapa said foreign investors continued to capitalise on the uniquely Malaysian ecosystems and its regional synergies, which was reflected in the 63.4 per cent higher FDI recorded year-on-year, against the RM36.1 billion secured in 2015. He said the leading sources of FDI last year were from the United States (US), the Netherlands, China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and the United Kingdom. They accounted for 55.8 per cent of the total FDI secured in 2016. FDI from ASEAN countries, however, declined 27 per cent to RM7.8 billion compared to RM10.8 billion in 2015. In the manufacturing sector, 733 projects with investments of RM58.5 billion were approved last year, compared with 680 with investments of RM74.7 billion in 2015. Investments in the services sector increased by 23.3 per cent to RM141.2 billion in 2016, involving 4,199 projects and mainly in the real-estate subsector, global establishments, financial services, information technology and telecommunications, and support services. For 2017, Mustapa said despite challenges and global uncertainties, the growth momentum in investments will continue and improve this year, with some policy alignments being undertaken to address the misperception among investors. He said investments of about RM35.3 billion was in the pipeline as at February, comprising RM18.8 billion in the manufacturing sector and RM16.5 billion in services (excluding real estate) with major FDI sources being the Netherland, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and the US. (US$1 = RM4.44) --BERNAMA