KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia rolled out its fourth industrial master plan today, which aims to revitalise the country's manufacturing sector and increase its value-added turnaround to RM587.5 billion by 2030.
Dubbed as the New Industrial Master Plan 2030 (NIMP 2030) and costing some RM95 billion in total investment over the period of its implementation, the seven-year-long plan is expected to provide employment for 3.3 million people through the creation of high-skilled jobs as the country advances towards higher value-added activities and improvement in automation as well as technological advancements.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim described the NIMP as the key component of the "Madani Economy: Empowering the People" framework, which was unveiled by the unity government on July 27.
"The NIMP 2030 is designed to drive Malaysia's trajectory as a global leader in industrial development, extend the domestic linkages to create wealth across the nation as well as strengthen its position in the global value chain.
"This plan is timely to expedite the transformation of industries in Malaysia, aligning them with the country's vision," he said in his speech at the launching ceremony of the NIMP here today.
Present were Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz, Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil and several other Cabinet members.
Unlike the previous industrial transformations and three industrial master plans since 1986, Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister, said the NIMP 2030 adopts a mission-based approach.
"With a short window of seven years, the NIMP 2030 must take a transformative and expeditious approach to achieve the goals."
Anwar later outlined the four missions of the NIMP 2030 which are to advance economic complexity, tech up for a digitally vibrant nation, to strive for net-zero future and to safeguard economic security and inclusivity.
These missions will be supported by four enablers which are to mobilise the financing ecosystem, foster talent development and attraction, strengthen best-in-class investor journey for ease of doing business and to introduce a whole-of-nation governance framework.
The government, he said, is confident that the strategies in the NIMP 2030 will produce "meaningful outcomes and a big impact" to the national economy.
"Specifically, the NIMP 2030 aims to increase the Manufacturing's value-add to RM587.5 billion by 2030, growing by 6.5 per cent from what it is today.
"This indicates an increase of 61 per cent and is derived by NIMP 2030 interventions for high-impact sectors such as electrical and electronic, chemical, electric vehicle, aerospace, pharmaceutical as well as advanced materials such as minerals and metal."
In terms of employment, Anwar said the government projected growth at 2.3 per cent from this year onwards.
"What is most important is the projection that through NIMP's interventions, the median salary in the manufacturing sector is expected to grow by 9.6 per cent, reaching RM4,510 from RM1,976, which is below the national average despite the sector's dominant role in the national gross domestic product (GDP).
"This 128 per cent increase from 2021 is driven by the shift of the industry towards higher value-added activities and high-skilled jobs opportunities created," he said.
To ensure timely and effective implementation, Anwar announced the creation of the National NIMP 2030 Council to be chaired by him.
The council, he said, will include the participation of the relevant ministries and industry representatives.
"Public-private governance will be established to ensure timely and effective implementation.
"A Delivery Management Unit (DMU) under MITI will be set up to coordinate all efforts and drive cohesive implementation across stakeholders."
On the RM95 billion in total investment required to implement the NIMP 2030, Anwar said it would be predominantly derived from the private sector mobilised from private equity, capital and financial markets.
"Close to 10 per cent will be allocated by the government to help catalyse and incentivise these investments via the NIMP Industrial Development Fund and the NIMP Strategic Co-investment Fund."