Mida: Manufacturing sector led investments within country in 2020 with RM91.3b

KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 — Malaysia’s manufacturing sector recorded a total of RM91.3 billion in approved investments for 2020, making it over half of the total approved investments in the country.

Malaysian Investment Development Authority’s (Mida) recent Malaysia Investment Performance Report 2020 indicated that while the first half of 2020 was a volatile period for the sector, it managed to recover by the second half of the year.

This is particularly for sub-sectors that relied on exports and in tandem with the growth of the manufacturing sector.

For the first quarter, manufacturing contributed RM25.2 billion or 67.4 per cent to total approved investments of RM37.4 billion in that period. This decreased slightly in the second quarter, where it contributed 55.1 per cent or RM10.5 billion to the total approved investments of RM27.4 billion.

The RM91.3 billion in approved investments for the manufacturing sector in 2020 was RM8.6 billion higher than the RM82.7 billion it brought in for 2019. Last year saw 1,049 projects involved for manufacturing, compared to the 988 projects in 2019.

Of 2020’s approved investments for the manufacturing sector, RM34.7 billion or 38 per cent were from domestic investments while RM56.6 billion or 62 per cent were from foreign investments.

This is similar to 2019’s statistics, in which RM28.3 billion or 34.2 per cent came from domestic investments and RM54.4 billion or 65.8 per cent came from foreign investments.

The 1,049 approved projects in the manufacturing sector are expected to bring about approximately 80,190 job opportunities, compared to the 78,606 jobs created in 2019.

Of the 80,190 job opportunities, it has been estimated that 28,706 positions or 35.8 per cent are for technical and supervisory roles, while 51,484 positions or 64.2 per cent of the jobs created were for sales, clerical, plant/machine operators and assemblers, and others

The RM91.3 billion attracted by the manufacturing sector constitutes 55.6 per cent of the total approved investments in Malaysia, which stands at RM164 billion for 2020.

In second place is the services sector at RM66.7 billion or 40.7 per cent, followed by the primary sector with RM6 billion or 3.7 per cent.

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