UALA LUMPUR, Nov 14 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 4.7 per cent in the third quarter of 2015 (Q3 2015) was driven by capital spending in the manufacturing and services sectors.
International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed in responding to the announcement by Bank Negara Malaysia yesterday, also noted that both Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and Domestic Direct Investments (DDI) helped sustain the country's economic momentum.
"At a time of global economic uncertainties, Malaysia's growth pattern demonstrates that we remain a preferred investment destination. The latest statistics re-affirm the confidence of both foreign and domestic investors in Malaysia's economic fundamentals," he added in a statement Saturday.
The leading sources of foreign investments for the first nine months of 2015 were Hong Kong, Japan, the United States, Singapore and China. These five countries jointly accounted for 70.3 per cent of total foreign investments approved in the manufacturing sector for the period.
For the first nine months, Malaysia's realised private investments (measured in terms of Gross Fixed Capital Formation at current prices), amounted to RM159.4 billion, 8.4 per cent higher than the RM147.0 billion recorded in the same period of 2014.
With this performance, Malaysia is well positioned to reach the average of RM162 billion per annum estimated for the duration of the 10th Malaysia Plan.
From January-September, net FDI flows into Malaysia rose by more than 5.8 per cent to RM27 billion, as compared with RM25.6 billion in the corresponding period of last year.
"This increase comes despite reduced FDI flows globally. It shows that Malaysia is attracting a higher share of net global FDI," said Mustapa.
The manufacturing sector received the largest amount of FDI from January- September at RM11.2 billion, or 41.4 per cent of total FDI.
Other major contributing sectors were the mining & quarrying sectors at RM10.8 billion (39.8 per cent) and services sector (RM4.4 billion or 16.4 per cent).
Mustapa said that for the first nine months of 2015, RM77.5 billion worth of investments was recorded for the manufacturing and its related services sectors.
"Domestic investors made up almost 70 per cent of the total investments approved during this period, with foreign sources contributing the rest," he added.
In the manufacturing sector, a total of 522 projects with investments of RM67.7 billion were approved from January - September.
The amount was RM4.4 billion higher than the investments recorded in the same period last year.
The top five industries in terms of investments were petroleum products (including petrochemicals), which accounted for RM25.4 billion, liquefied natural gas (RM10.4 billion), electrical and electronic products (RM6.4 billion), transport equipment (RM5.9 billion) and non-metallic mineral (RM3.6 billion).
Mustapa said Johor, Sarawak, Malacca, Selangor and Penang were the highest recipients of approved investments with 400 (76.6 per cent)of the projects being located.
They accounted for RM59.9 billion (88.5 per cent) of the total approved investments.
Johor registered the highest level of investments at RM30 billion, followed by Sarawak (RM11.8 billion), Melaka (RM6.8 billion), Selangor (RM5.9 billion) and Penang (RM5.4 billion).
"The approved manufacturing projects in the first nine months helped create more than 50,000 job opportunities, with almost 34 per cent of those at the high-skilled levels," said Mustapa.
He also said that as of September 2015, there were 140 proposals for manufacturing projects and 87 services projects in the pipeline.
"The total investments of these projects is estimated at RM14.2 billion. Miti and its agencies, especially the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida)will strive hard to secure these projects," he added.
In welcoming the strong performance by domestic investors, he stressed that Miti and Mida would continue to accelerate efforts in attracting high-value investments from foreign sources, particularly in emerging technologies.
"We have shifted our focus in promoting Malaysia to international investors.
"In line with our pursuit to become a high-income nation by 2020, we recognise that investments which venture into resource extraction or based on providing cheap labour, are no longer in tandem with the shift needed in our economy.
"Instead, we are now targeting foreign investments that can add value, that are innovative, that use the latest technology and which are R&D based.
"Such investments can accelerate our efforts to move out of the middle- income trap and enable Malaysia to become an 'Innovation Nation'," Mustapa highlighted.
-- BERNAMA
Source: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v8/bu/newsbusiness.php?id=1189575
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