Foreign direct investment (FDI) is the main driver of economic growth that brings positive spill over effects to the country and people through the generation of business opportunities, the transfer of knowledge, skills and technology as well as the creation of job opportunities for local people.
Deputy Investment, Trade And Industry (MITI) Minister Liew Chin Tong (pic) today (May 22) said based on investment data approved by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), foreign ownership projects realised from approval in 2017 to 2002 have created 157,760 job opportunities.
Of this number, 133,117 or 84.3 percent are local workers while the rest consists of 26,643 foreign workers. This resulted from a total of 1,392 foreign ownership projects worth RM426.6 billion.
In reply to a question raised by Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani [ Titiwangsa ] on the actual number of jobs created as a result of foreign direct investment (FDI) from 2017 to 2022 in Parliament today, Liew replied the breakdown of jobs for the manufacturing sector, a total of 1,164 manufacturing projects involving investments worth RM329.9 billion have been realised and created 150,873 job opportunities.
The five main manufacturing industries involving foreign ownership that create the highest number of jobs are; electrical and electronic industry (75,593 jobs), metal goods (14,477 jobs), machinery and equipment (7,001 jobs), non-metallic mineral goods (6,820 jobs) and rubber goods ( 5,721 jobs).
For the service sector, a total of 228 projects with investments worth RM96.7 billion have been realised for the year 2017 to 2022 and created 6,887 job opportunities.
The three main subsectors that create the highest number of jobs are; global organizations (3,197 jobs), support services (1,481 jobs) and health services (1,303 jobs).
The government is always committed in mobilising efforts and strategies to encourage the entry of high-quality investment into the country to speed up recovery and increase the country’s economic growth which provides significant benefits to the people.
This is manifested through policy commitments led by this Ministry such as the National Investment Aspirations (NIA), the National Trade Blueprint and the New Industrial Plan 2030.
