17 Rabiulakhir 1434
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 27 , 2013- Malaysia recorded RM139.5 billion in realised private investment last year, surpassing by 9.1 per cent the targeted investment of RM127.9 billion, Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said Wednesday.
Compared with 2011,the realised private investment grew 24.8 per cent from RM111.8 billion, he said.
Unveiling the investment performance for 2012, Mustapa said Malaysia attracted RM162.4 billion in approved investments last year, which was also the highest amount of investments ever despite the uncertain global economic conditions.
"Of the total investments approved, RM127.6 billion (78 percent) were contributed by domestic investments (DDI) and RM34.8 billion (22 percent) came from foreign investments.
"It is heartening to note that domestic investment inflows increased substantially by almost four times the FDIs achieved in 2012, a sure sign of confidence local business have in the country's ability to prosper its investors" he told reporters here Wednesday.
Of this, Mustapa said services accounted for 72.4 percent, manufacturing was 25.3 percent while primary sectors were at 2.3 percent.
"Much of 2012's investments were in the new and emerging technologies, particularly within the aerospace, semiconductors, solar, machinery and equipment, biotechnology, petroleum and petrochemical products and medical devices industries as well as the oil and gas services sector," the minister said.
The investments approved were in 6,442 projects and are expected to generate 182,841 job opportunities.
When asked whether the trend of declining FDI and increasing DDI would sustain in the coming years, he said last year was a bad year for FDI not only for Malaysia but also globally with some developed countries facing a recession while some Asian economies were experiencing lower growth.
"We believe there will be some recovery in the global economy. Europe and America will help to push the FDI numbers somewhat, so that's our expectation. We are expecting at least US$12 billion in terms of FDI this year, same as last year, with some recovery in electrical and electronics (E&E), which will certainly contribute to FDI this year," he said.
However, Mustapa said the DDI and FDI ratio which was about 78 and 22 percent respectively, was in line with the government's goal under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) in encouraging DDI to take the lead in driving the country's economic transformation on the back of global economic uncertainties.
As for this year's target, Mustapa said the government is looking at a similar 20 percent growth for private investment as reflected in realised investment and approved investment last year which grew by more than 20 percent.
Asked whether the upcoming election will affect the private investment numbers this year, he said that will not be the case.
"As we saw, last year was also rumoured to be an election year but we have done extremely well. From my conversation with investors, nobody is witholding this year's investment decisions. You can see it in Iskandar Malaysia, Medini as well as the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park (MCKIP), where there is continued foreign investment interest," he said.
Mustapa said Malaysia's reputation as a global and regional hub for manufacturing and services, has managed to attract investments that will accelerate the country's shift to high value-added, high technology, knowledge-intensive and innovation-based industries.
More information: BERNAMA
No comments:
Post a Comment