Malaysia Foreign Direct Investment 1970-2024 (2024)

FAQs

What is the historical foreign direct investment in Malaysia? ›

Malaysia foreign direct investment for 2021 was $20.25B, a 398.8% increase from 2020. Malaysia foreign direct investment for 2020 was $4.06B, a 55.67% decline from 2019. Malaysia foreign direct investment for 2019 was $9.15B, a 10.24% increase from 2018.

16 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's foreign direct investment (FDI) increased to 926.3 billion ringgit (194 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023 as compared to 914.9 billion ringgit in the third quarter of 2023, official data showed Friday.

Malaysia recorded over $36.9 billion in FDI in 2022, comprising 55.1 percent and 78.3 percent of total investment in its services and manufacturing sectors, respectively.

The reasons that motivate foreign investment are advanced technology, human resources, towards the economy of tomorrow, a vibrant business environment and well-developed infrastructure. 85 percent of investors are interested in investing in Malaysia.

Malaysia's FDI increased to RM926. 3 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to RM914. 9 billion the third quarter of last year, according to official data released last week.

In 2022, the US topped Malaysia's list of foreign direct investments with a net inflow of approximately RM37. 8 billion. Last month, outgoing US Ambassador to Malaysia, Brian McFeeters said US companies have pledged investments totalling RM100 billion in various sectors in Malaysia over the last 18 months.

Economic stability

This makes it one of the most stable economies in Southeast Asia. Additionally, the country has a low unemployment rate of 3.3% and a relatively low inflation rate of 2.6%. These economic indicators show that Malaysia is a stable and attractive destination for foreign investors.

FDI can introduce new technologies, skills, and knowledge to the host country, enhancing its productivity, competitiveness, and innovation capacity. It can also create direct and indirect jobs, increase wages, generate tax revenues for the host country, and contribute to its economic growth and social welfare.

The results show that the FDI inflows together with the human capital development contribute strongly to the host country's economic growth. But the technology spillovers of FDI inflows are still not sufficiently combined with human capital to contribute to the economic growth.

He said the size of FDI relative to gross domestic product (GDP) is a better measure to compare the ability to attract FDI across countries. Based on this measure, the country's FDI in 2022 amounted to 4.2% of GDP and placed it in fourth position behind Vietnam (4.4%), Cambodia (12.4%) and Singapore (32.3%).

How does foreign direct investment affect unemployment rate in Malaysia? ›

A 1% increase in FDI caused a decrease of 0.009% in unemployment and an increase of 1.219% in GDP.

Malaysia Foreign Portfolio Investment increased by 834.025 USD mn in Dec 2023, compared with an increase of 281.787 USD mn in the previous quarter.

MELAKA: Malaysia has gained world attention as a premier investment destination due to its political stability and clear economic policies, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Malaysia's foreign policy is largely influenced and shaped by three key factors, namely its strategic location in Southeast Asia, its attributes as a trading nation as well as its unique demography.

The determinants that have identified are infrastructure, exchange rate and market size. One of the most important determinants of FDI is infrastructure and market size as well as growth potential of the economy of the country where the FDI is being made.

“Investment inflow from countries such as The Netherlands, Singapore, the United States, China, and Japan reflect the type of high-tech, strategic investments that Malaysia is targeting from global players.

One of the most significant events in the history of the Malaysian economy was the Asian financial crisis, which caused Malaysia's GDP to shrink from US$100.8 billion in 1996 to US$72.2 billion in 1998. The Malaysian economy's GDP did not recover to 1996 levels until 2003. The year 1997 saw drastic changes in Malaysia.