KUALA LUMPUR – The total realised investments from the record RM329.5 billion in potential foreign investments announced last year will be known in early April.
Investment, Trade and Industry (Miti) Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said this will be made public as part of the government’s transparency pledge.
“The numbers are being finalised on how much of the RM329.5 billion have been realised.
“We will announce this in the first week of April.”
He shared this at the Concorde Club meeting today at Wisma Bernama here.
Tengku Zafrul added that the road to realise potential and approved foreign investments into Malaysia will be closely tracked as monthly reports will be prepared instead of annual ones.
“The focus on execution will be key as the national investment council continues to push for all agencies, including states and local councils to speed up the process to help realise these investments.
“We also want to ensure there are no unnecessary challenges that are faced by investors coming to Malaysia.
“As for the monthly tracking, it is to make it as transparent as possible so the people are aware where these investments are going to.”
Tengku Zafrul said for example, more than 85% of approved manufacturing projects have been executed between 2021 and 2023.
The approved investments of RM329.5 billion last year were higher compared to 2022 which recorded RM264.6 billion.
Meanwhile, he said Malaysia and the Asean region are seeing positive inflows as a result of trade tensions between China and the US in recent years.
“Seeing that one of our strengths is in the digital and green economy, especially in the semiconductor and data centre industries, we want to encourage more local companies to invest these areas.
“Of course, the ministry wants to facilitate more joint ventures with China companies to invest in Malaysia.”
He added that this will be more evident when Malaysia hosts the Malaysia-China Summit 2024 (MCS 2024) in December, in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations with the country’s biggest trading partner. – March 21, 2024