KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia expects an influx of investments in information and communication technology (ICT) next year – thanks to funding of sustained infrastructure expansion, private sector training, and research and development (R&D) support, said Multimedia Development Corporation Bhd (MDeC).
Its chief operation officer, Ng Wan Peng said despite 2014 being a challenging year, Malaysia managed to achieve impressive economic growth and productivity.
She said Malaysia’s digital economy had shown marked advancement with the ICT sector contributing RM160.8 billion to the 2013 gross domestic product (GDP) of RM968.7 billion, an increase of 38 per cent from 2012.
“MSC (Multimedia Super Corridor) Malaysia recorded another year of strong growth as there were healthy performances in export sales and GDP contribution across the board,” she said in a statement.
Revenue grew three per cent from 2012 to RM34.55 billion while new investments increased three per cent to RM3 billion.
MSC Malaysia companies had strengthened their export sales to RM12.41 billion, a 7.4 per cent increase year-on-year with 9,221 jobs were added from 2012.
Ng said 2014’s continued strong and consistent trajectory augured well for MSC Malaysia.
She expects further extensions of already-established ICT segments such as shared services and creative content, as well as growing new niche segments such as big data analytics and ‘Internet of Things’ in the next six years.
The government’s increased allocation for high-speed broadband in areas of high-economic impact will see further improvements in productivity with acceleration of contribution from key sub-sectors, she said.
She said the 2015 Budget would also continue to drive the nation’s ICT creative sector with the new funds and tax exemptions announced.
“It will enable us to continue grow as an ICT hub and the growing ecosystem will ensure that 2015 will be another successful year,” she added.
Moving forward, MDEC will continue to take MSC Malaysia companies to the next level with new regional and global go-to market opportunities by ensuring citizens are more digitally savvy to improve their standard of living through the MDeC’s Digital Malaysia initiative, she said.
She said at the recent Implement Council Meeting, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak approved various initiatives earmarked for 2015.
They are, namely the MSC Malaysia Liberalisation, eRezeki, Malaysia as a global hub for cloud and content services, Creation of Content Malaysia Creative Centre, Malaysia as a regional games and interactive media hub, investing in big data analytics, Digital Government Transformation Government (3.0) and the World Congress on IT.
“Advancing the Malaysian Digital Economy is a path we must take and a challenge we must exuberantly embrace in moving Malaysia rapidly forward towards achieving our 2020 aspirations,” she said. — Bernama