KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has registered RM149 billion worth of approved investments in the services, manufacturing and primary sectors in first nine months this year.
This was 4.4 per cent higher than the RM142.6 billion approved in the same period last year.
International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Darrel Leiking said these investments involved 4,025 projects and will create an additional of 93,841 job opportunities.
"The majority of the investments came from domestic sources, which contributed RM82.7 billion or 55.5 per cent of the total investments," he said in a statement.
Darrell said foreign direct investments (FDI) represented 44.5 per cent or RM66.3 billion.
Total approved FDI in these three main sectors increased by 6.5 per cent to RM66.3 billion in January-September 2019 from RM62.2 billion in the same period last year, he added.
“Malaysia is true to its ambition to become a preferred investment destination for innovation-based, knowledge-intensive investments within high-growth, high-value sectors.
"Despite ongoing trade tensions pointing to slower growth, we will stick to the course and continue attracting strategic partners to invest in Malaysia," Darrel said.
This will generate more spillover impact on the economy through the growth of the local supply chain ecosystems and improvement of the Malaysian workforce, he added.
As of September 2019, Darrell said the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) is actively negotiating 682 projects with proposed investments of RM37.6 billion.
These include 242 projects within the manufacturing sector (RM26.6 billion) and 440 projects in the services sector (RM11.0 billion).