Malaysia expects Investment growth momentum to continue in 2024

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is optimistic that its investment growth momentum will continue in 2024 despite external challenges, said Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

Based on current trends, he anticipates the momentum to persist, supported by the double-digit increase in trade for May.

“So we are on the right track. We can see that our exports to Asean and the US rose by double digits in May. In terms of exports, 85% are from the manufacturing sector, especially the electronics and electrical sector,” he told reporters after the launch of the Centralised Sustainability Intelligence Solution at Bursa Malaysia here on Friday.

However, he said there are many challenging issues as well. “Issues such as ongoing trade tensions and geopolitical events, like the US-China trade war, pose challenges,” he added.

Malaysia recorded approved investments amounting to RM83.7 billion in the first three months of 2024, a 13% increase over the previous year’s corresponding period, creating 29,000 new jobs for Malaysians.

Tengku Zafrul said the main sectors contributing to the approved investments are: manufacturing sector 51.3% (RM43 billion), services sector 47% (RM39.3 billion) and the primary sector 1.7% (RM1.4 billion).

“In terms of breakdown, foreign investment is 56% and domestic investment is 44%,“ he added.

Austria topped the list of foreign investors by a very wide margin, with RM30.1 billion (64%) in approved investments, followed by Singapore (RM5.6 billion), the Netherlands (RM3.6 billion), China (RM3.4 billion) and the United States (RM632.8 million).

In terms of states, Kedah recorded the highest value of approved investments (RM31.3 billion), followed by Kuala Lumpur (RM21.5 billion), Selangor (RM12.4 billion), Sarawak (RM4.2 billion) and Johor (RM4.1 billion).

Target sectors stipulated by the National Investment Aspirations (NIA) contributed RM53.7 billion, accounting for 64.1% of the total approved investments across 252 projects, which are expected to create 17,056 new job opportunities.

The NIA is built on five robust pillars: enhancing economic complexity, creating high-value job opportunities, expanding domestic linkages, developing new and existing clusters, and promoting inclusivity.

Of the total approved investments, RM47.5 billion, or 56.8%, fall under the jurisdiction of Miti/Mida, covering 500 projects with 18,517 new job opportunities.