The Malaysian government is determined about making investment a national agenda through the establishment of a high-level investment facilitation platform to ensure the implementation of potential and approved strategic investments through a “Whole of Government” approach.
In light of this, Minister of Finance II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan, who led a Malaysian delegation to the Joint Investors Meeting in London, United Kingdom from April 20 to 22, 2024 said, “The National Investment Council (MPN) chaired by the Prime Minister is an action integrated that reflects how serious we are in making Malaysia as an investment hub in the region.”
In the meeting with about 70 financial fund investors and corporate members held at the PNB House and Asia House, Amir Hamzah explained the immediate action of the MADANI Government to stimulate strategic investment in key technologies such as:
a) Establishment of the National Semiconductor Strategic Committee (NSSTF) to facilitate cooperation between the Government, industry players, universities, and relevant stakeholders for places the Malaysian semiconductor industry at the forefront and ensure the continued growth of the Electronics & Electrical industry, especially the semiconductor sector, as a major contributor to Malaysian economy;
b) Empowering Malaysia as a preferred green investment destination as well remove barriers and bureaucracy in provision and accessibility to renewable energy especially for the new technology industry, including data centres; and
c) Kerian Integrated Green Industrial Park Development (KIGIP) to support a wider ecosystem of industrial clusters Centralised Electronics & Electrical in the northern region, especially in Bayan Lepas and Batu Kawan Industrial Areas in Penang and Kulim High Technology Park (KHTP) in Kedah.
“The country’s investment prospects have reached an extraordinary level, with approved investment jumps to RM329.5 billion in 2023, marking a historic achievement for the country (2022: RM268 billion). This mainly focused in Electronics & Electrical products and sub-sectors information and communication (ICT),” he said.
He said as many as 74% of manufacturing projects were approved between years 2021 and 2023 have been completed or are in process. In addition, great value of work initial stage construction to be completed in 2023 (RM31.5 billion) and 2022 (RM26.3 billion) shows a positive trend for time investment opportunities in front.
“From a total of 5,101 investment projects approved on year 2023, as many as 81.2% or 4,143 projects are in the services sector, 883 projects in the manufacturing sector, and 75 projects in other related sectors,” he said.
Meetings and dialogue sessions with financial and capital market investors are part of the working visit in conjunction with his presence at the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual Spring Meetings 2024 in Washington D.C., USA from April 17-19 2024. These meetings were also attended by the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) Governor Abdul Rasheed Abdul Ghafoor.
Prior, Amir Hamzah met with international investors in New York and Washington DC with the purpose of clarifying direction of the implementation of the MADANI Economic framework to improve investors’ confidence in Malaysia’s economic level and strengthen the perception and investment sentiment of foreign investors towards Malaysia.
Amir Hamzah said: “A high level of confidence and strong investment sentiment will be available increase the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) inward.”
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