Approved investments up 95% to RM80 billion for first quarter of the year

Malaysia recorded RM80.6 billion worth of approved investments in the manufacturing, services and primary sectors in the first quarter (Q1) of 2021, up 95.6% from RM41.2 billion in the same period last year.

The Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) said the numbers were presented to the Cabinet by International Trade and Industry Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali today.

In a statement, it said the investments involved 993 projects and are expected to generate 32,557 job opportunities.

Meanwhile, total approved foreign direct investments (FDI) in the manufacturing, services and primary sectors increased by 383.4% to RM54.9 billion from January to March this year from RM11.4 billion in the same quarter last year.

The top five immediate sources of FDI were Singapore (RM43.1 billion), the Netherlands (RM5 billion), South Korea (RM4.3 billion), Taiwan (RM0.5 billion) and Hong Kong (RM0.3 billion).

Investments from Singapore include one 100% Chinese-owned mega project with the source of funding made through its affiliate in the country.

Mida said domestic direct investments (DDI) comprised the remaining RM25.7 billion, contributing 31.9% to total approved investments in these three sectors.

Kedah, Selangor, Sarawak, Sabah and Kuala Lumpur contributed RM68.4 billion or 84.9% of the total approved investments for January to March.

The manufacturing sector leads in investments for Q1 at RM58.8 billion, followed by the services sector (RM15.6 billion) and the primary sector (RM6.2 billion).

In the manufacturing sector, positive investment growth for Q1 was driven by robust performance, soaring 126.8% compared to the same period last year.

The majority of investments were in electrical and electronics (RM47 billion), fabricated metal products (RM4.9 billion), rubber products (RM3.3 billion), chemicals and chemical products (RM1.1 billion), transport equipment (RM0.5 billion), food manufacturing (RM0.4 billion), machinery and equipment (RM0.4 billion) and paper, printing and publishing (RM0.2 billion).

Together, these comprise 98.3% of total approved investments for the sector.

The services sector saw 74.2% or 737 of the total approved projects in Q1, with domestic investments making up RM15 billion or 96.2% of total approved investments for the sector during this period.

An increase in investments was recorded in the sub-sectors of financial services, distributive trade, education services, real estate and global establishments.

Leading contributors include real estate (RM8.9 billion), financial services (RM2.7 billion), utilities (RM2 billion), support services (RM1.2 billion) and distributive trade (RM0.5 billion).

Approved investments in the primary sector meanwhile registered a significant increase of 3,097.3% from RM0.2 billion in Q1 of 2020 to RM6.2 billion in Q1 of 2021.

Investments from domestic sources dominated at RM4.2 billion or 67.7%, with the mining sub-sector leading with approved investments of RM6.1 billion.