KUCHING, April 5: Foreign direct investment make up a dominant of approved investments by the Sarawak government, amounting to RM44.7 billion or 60.9 per cent of total investment.
In revealing this, Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI), Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, said that from 2013 to 2022, Sarawak has approved investments totalling RM73.4 billion in the manufacturing, service and primary sectors for the region.
According to a news report by Sarawak Public Communications Unit (Ukas), Zafrul further explained that the approved investment involved 284 projects, and is expected to generate 32,699 new job opportunities.
“Meanwhile, domestic direct investment contributed as much as RM28.7 billion or 39.1 per cent of the total investment approved in the manufacturing, service and primary sectors,” he said.
He revealed this when answering a question from Senator Robert Lau Hui Yew during an oral answer session at the Dewan Rakyat on Monday (April 3).
Zafrul added that of the total foreign direct investment approved for the period 2013 to 2022 in Sarawak, the manufacturing sector accounted for the majority of foreign direct investment with a total of RM44.4 billion or 99.5 per cent.
“In terms of the main industries, basic metal products lead the manufacturing sector with a total foreign direct investment worth RM22.6 billion (50.8 per cent) followed by chemicals and chemical products amounting to RM10.5 billion (23.7 per cent), electricity and electronics amounting to RM10 billion ( 22.6 per cent), non-metallic mineral products amounting to RM0.7 billion (1.6 per cent) and petroleum products (including petrochemicals) amounting to RM0.4 billion (0.8 per cent).
“The service sector contributed direct foreign investment of RM240.1 million or 0.5 per cent for the same period for Sarawak.
“For this period, the support services sub-sector led the service sector in Sarawak with a total foreign direct investment worth RM202.4 million (84.3 per cent).
“Other sub-sectors which also contributed to foreign direct investment are the hotel and tourism sub-sector worth RM26.6 million (10.7 percent) and global organisations which amounted to RM12.1 million (5.1 per cent),” he said. — DayakDaily
