KUALA LUMPUR – About 91,930 new jobs are expected to be created in the manufacturing industry following approved investments amounting to RM194.9 billion from 1,135 projects under the Investment, Trade, and Industry Ministry (Miti).
The approved investments are from January 2023 to March this year.
Miti Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said that from the total approved projects of 1,135 in the manufacturing industry, about 445 (39.2%) have been realised.
From those 445 projects, about 29,693 jobs have been created out of a total investment of RM37.6 billion.
Tengku Zafrul was responding to a question by former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (Bera-BN), who asked about investments brought in from January last year to June this year.
“This is an encouraging achievement, considering how the implementation of approved manufacturing projects typically takes between 18 to 24 months to be realised – depending on the complexity, scale of the project, and current economic conditions,” he said in a parliamentary written reply yesterday.
Tengku Zafrul explained that realised projects refer to those which have started operations or are in the process of building the factory, or are currently in the implementation phase for machinery and equipment.
He added that last year, investments for three sectors – manufacturing, service, and primary – amounted to RM329.5 billion, an increase of 23% compared to 2022.
On June 21, Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia recorded RM83.7 billion in approved investments across various sectors in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 13% from the same period last year.
Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri also questioned the number of multinational industries which have closed their operations in Malaysia, such as Goodyear Malaysia Bhd, and the reasoning behind it.
Besides Goodyear, Tengku Zafrul said two firms in the transportation and steel industry, as well as one firm’s operations in the food industry, are shutting down in phases by the end of the year.
He explained that various factors play a role in operation shutdowns by investors, namely business decisions relating closely to company and business model restructurings, as well as the rationalisation of production activities and business direction according to global trends.
For instance, he said Goodyear’s decision to close its factory in Shah Alam was because of restructuring plans to save costs, following its losses since 2017. – July 2, 2024