This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on March 21, 2019

SHAH ALAM: Selangor is targeting to secure RM10 billion worth of approved investments in the manufacturing sector, after seeing a record RM18.95 billion in 2018.

Despite the uncertain economic environment, Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari (pic) said Selangor is confident of meeting its target for the year, adding that its investment arm Invest Selangor has been promoting the state in different countries around the world.

“We are positive we can achieve our RM10 billion target for 2019. We are on the right track but we will have to see how the external economic environment performs. Invest Selangor will closely monitor the economic climate.

“We have been to China and Europe. We have also visited certain regions like Africa as well to increase foreign direct investment,” he said at a press conference here yesterday.

Amirudin added that a Moroccan government delegation will be visiting Malaysia soon, which he said could potentially open up Europe and Africa as new markets.

Selangor recorded its highest ever manufacturing sector approved investment of RM18.95 billion for 2018, surging 238% from RM5.59 billion in 2017, contributed by higher foreign direct investment (FDI) and domestic direct investment (DDI).

Amirudin said FDI increased 400% year-on-year to RM10.84 billion while DDI increased 136% to RM8.11 billion. He said foreign investment sentiment has been positive since the general election last year.

“Besides that, Selangor has good logistics infrastructure, such as ports, airports and roads, and an investment ecosystem in place. These factors have attracted investors,” he added.

A total of 241 manufacturing projects were approved in the state in 2018, 19% higher than the 202 recorded a year earlier. The total number of manufacturing projects approved for the year was also the highest in the country.

New investments increased 427% to RM13.5 billion for the year, while expansion/diversification investments increased 79% year-on-year to RM5.42 billion.

In terms of foreign investment, China invested the most with RM3.93 billion, spread across basic metal products such as hot rolled coils, cold roll coils and paper products like wet pulp boards and corrugated boxes.

Meanwhile, Japan recorded the highest number of approved projects with 27 projects worth RM435.6 million. These include investments in the semiconductor, factory automation, food, LED products and automotive segments.

By industry, basic metal products recorded the highest contribution among approved manufacturing projects at RM6.88 billion, followed by paper, printing and publishing (RM5.1 billion), rubber products (RM1.3 billion), food manufacturing (RM835 million) and plastic products (RM698 million).

The state also recorded the highest approved investment in the services sector in the country, with RM5.78 billion in 2018 compared to RM4.5 billion a year earlier. This brings the total approved investment to a total of RM24.73 billion for 2018.