KUALA LUMPUR (July 4): The manufacturing sector, under the purview of the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (Miti) and the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida), recorded RM194.9 billion worth of approved investments from January 2023 to March 2024.

This involved 1,135 projects that created 91,930 new job opportunities.

Miti said that foreign investments contributed RM166.6 billion or 85.5% of the approved investments, with domestic investments contributing RM28.3 billion or 14.5%.

"Out of the total manufacturing projects approved, 445 (39.2%) from foreign investments amounting to RM37.6 billion have been realised and 29,693 jobs created," it said in a written response posted on the Parliament's website Thursday.

Miti was responding to a question from Datuk Dr Ahmad Marzuk Shaary (PN-Pengkalan Chepa) on the value of foreign direct investments (FDI) brought in, approved, and realised from 2023 to 2024.

The ministry said the five main industries in the manufacturing sector that recorded the highest foreign investment realised include electrical and electronics (RM22.5 billion), machinery and equipment (RM9.3 billion), non-metallic mineral products (RM2.9 billion), plastic products (RM1.1 billion) and fabricated metal products (RM427.5 million).

It said the five states with the highest realised foreign investments for the period under review are Kedah, Selangor, Penang, Johor and Melaka, totalling RM36.4 billion or 86.7% of total realised investments.

"This is an outstanding development as these projects were implemented in a shorter timeframe compared with the typical 18 to 24 months for realisation, depending on a project's scale and complexity and prevailing economic conditions," it added.

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