KUALA LUMPUR – The decision by some foreign companies to withdraw their investments from Malaysia during the pandemic has little to do with the country’s “attractiveness”, the Dewan Rakyat was told.
Instead, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali (Gombak-Bersatu) said this is due to revised business strategies by investors.
“We must remember that, among the main reasons behind the decision is the companies’ business rationalisation, and not because the investment environment here is not conducive,” he said in Parliament today.
Azmin said in picking an investment destination, companies take into consideration a number of factors, including low labour cost, the size of the domestic market and the availability of mineral resources.
The minister was responding to a question from Fong Kui Lun (Bukit Bintang-PH) on whether the government is confident of attracting investors that have shifted their operations elsewhere back to Malaysia once the pandemic situation has improved.
Azmin said the impression that investors are running away from the country does not reflect the true situation here, adding that Malaysia remains competitive in attracting investments.
He cited the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2021, which ranked Malaysia in 25th place out of 64 economies, up two spots from last year.
“This is a positive development where foreign investors continue to have confidence in our country, and we will do our best to pull even more high-quality investments in the future.”
According to Azmin, in the first half of this year, Malaysia secured RM107.5 billion in investments involving the manufacturing, services and primary sectors, which is RM63.3 billion or 69.8% more compared with the same period last year.
Of the RM107.5 billion, he said RM62.5 billion (58.1%) are foreign direct investments.
He added that the investments secured so far this year involve 2,110 projects that are expected to create close to 45,000 jobs.
On a seperate question on how the government can guarantee that the projects will be implemented and delivered, Azmin acknowledged there have been cases where projects that were secured were not implemented and delivered as promised, and that the government is doing its best to address the issue.
He said these undelivered projects are likely due to bureaucracy at multiple levels.
“We will review and address the issue to the best of our ability by involving federal, states and local governments to ensure better cooperation.” – The Vibes, September 27, 2021
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