KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 –Malaysia recorded RM65.3 billion worth of approved investments in the manufacturing sector for the first nine months of this year, an increase of 16.6 per cent compared with RM56 billion in the same period last year.
The Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) said in a statement today the total investments approved were mainly in petroleum products including petrochemicals (RM15 billion), basic metal products (RM14.5 billion), electrical and electronics (RM7.7 billion), machinery and equipment (RM5.8 billion), and chemicals and chemical products (RM4.5 billion).
These investments, along with food manufacturing (RM3 billion), transport equipment (RM3 billion) as well as scientific and measuring equipment (RM2.1 billion), made up 85 per cent of total approved investments for the sector.
“Compared with the corresponding period last year, domestic direct investment (DDI) in the manufacturing sector saw a leap of 45.5 per cent to RM25.9 billion during this period while the value of approved foreign direct investments (FDI) increased by 3.2 per cent to RM39.4 billion,” MIDA said.
The states that recorded the highest total approved investments in the manufacturing sector are Sarawak, Sabah, Penang, Selangor, and Johor, which collectively contributed RM51.3 billion.
Meanwhile, the leading sources of FDI for the nine-month period were China, Singapore, Switzerland, the United States, the Netherlands, Thailand, Japan, and South Korea.
These eight countries jointly accounted for 91.4 per cent or RM36.0 billion of the total FDI approved in the manufacturing sector.
MIDA has also been attracting quality investments in capital-intensive, high-value-added and high technology projects. This was reflected in the increase of capital investment per employee ratio to RM1.28 million in the first nine months of the year from RM1.04 million during the same period last year.
The agency also said the projects approved would generate 51,172 jobs for the country, which included 1,040 electrical and electronic engineers, 963 mechanical engineers and 331 chemical engineers.
“In addition, the approved manufacturing projects will also require about 5,499 skilled craftsmen such as plant maintenance supervisors, tools and die makers, machinists, IT personnel, quality controllers, electricians and welders,” it said.
— BERNAMA
