Its Senior Executive Director, Strategic Planning and Investment Ecosystem, Datuk Wan Hashim Wan Jusoh said the approved investments in manufacturing as of September 2014 had surpassed the initial target of RM53 billion for this year.
He said he was confident that MIDA would continue to attract domestic and foreign investments in the remaining months and expected the full-year 2014 figure to be another record.
Last year, the manufacturing sector saw record investments of RM52.1 billion, up 27 per cent from 2012, which comprised 787 approved manufacturing projects and created 93,000 jobs.
“For the period of January-July 2014 alone, MIDA had approved a total of 498 manufacturing projects with investments of RM53.2 billion.
“Up to 42 per cent or RM22.4 billion was contributed by domestic investments,” he said after officiating at a Seminar on Domestic Investments themed “Bumiputera Development and Financial Assistance”, here today.
The one-day event, which is part of MIDA’s outreach programmes to encourage and enhance the domestic investment landscape particularly to facilitate greater Bumiputera participation in the economy, attracted some 150 participants.
The event was in collaboration with the Bumiputera Manufacturers and Services Industry Association of Malaysia (PPIPBM).
Wan Hashim said the investments this year were driven mainly by the electrical and electronics sector, as well as stronger contributions from the oil and gas sector especially petrochemical and chemical-based products.
He said the petrochemical sector was coming on strongly due to the Pengerang Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (Rapid) project.
Meanwhile, Wan Hashim said the approved investments with Bumiputera participation for the January-July 2014 period totalled RM2.1 billion comprising 52 projects.
Earlier in his speech, he highlighted on the availability of the RM1 billion Domestic Investment Strategic Fund (DISF) for local entrepreneurs.
“The entrepreneurs should leverage on all initiatives and facilities provided by the government to grow their businesses to compete on the global stage.
The establishment of the DISF was to accelerate the shift of Malaysian-owned companies in targeted industries to high value-added, high technology, knowledge-intensive and innovation-based industries,” he said.
— BERNAMA
