Malaysia’s total stock of FDI rose by 10.3 per cent to RM667.5 billion in the second quarter of 2019 compared with RM605.1 billion a year ago. File Photo
KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Malaysia is much bigger than before, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.
“FDI is much bigger than before that we should be very happy about,” the Prime Minister said.
He said ironically, the Pakatan Harapan government lacked the communication skills to disseminate messages about its good efforts and polices.
“This government is not good at communication and telling what it has done. But believe me, this government has done much more things than any other government has done in such a short period of one and a half year,” he told reporters after chairing the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) Supreme Council Meeting at the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia headquarters here yesterday.
Malaysia’s total stock of FDI rose by 10.3 per cent to RM667.5 billion in the second quarter of 2019 compared with RM605.1 billion a year ago.
Recently, The World Bank Doing Business 2020 Report ranked Malaysia in 12th position amongst 190 economies worldwide, a further improvement from the 15th spot the previous year.
International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Darell Leiking had said the improved ranking was due to the public and private sector members’ collaboration and commitment within the technical working groups under the Special Task Force to Facilitate Business (Pemudah) to improve the ease-of-doing-business environment.
Dr Mahathir pointed out that various efforts that the government had undertaken would take some time before one could see the results.
“We have also introduced new policies on industrialisation, agriculture and other economic-related matters.
“We are also aware that there may be actions, criticisms and activities that have adversely affected Pakatan Harapan and we will discuss these at the Pakatan Harapan meeting soon,” he added.
Among others, Malaysia has launched the National Policy on Industry 4.0 (Industry4WRD) last year, aimed at driving the country towards becoming the Industry 4.0 hub in Southeast Asia.
The Industry4WRD policy, which is aimed at increasing productivity in the manufacturing sector per person in Malaysia by 30 per cent from RM106,647, would elevate the absolute contribution of the manufacturing sector to the economy by 54 per cent to RM392 billion from RM254 billion.
The Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 (WKB2030), which was launched recently, is the new development narrative in an effort to restructure the economy so that everyone can enjoy a reasonable standard of living by 2030.
The focus of the WKB2030 is on reducing economic inequality – with the gaps widening among income groups, ethnic groups, regions and supply chains, as well as enabling Malaysia to escape the middle-income trap. — Bernama