Invest Selangor Bhd is aiming RM12 billion total investment this year, mainly from the services and manufacturing sectors.
Of the total RM12 billion, RM7 billion worth of investments are expected to come from the manufacturing sector, while RM5 billion will account for the services sector.
Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari had said 60% of Selangor’s economy is made up of the service sector, while the manufacturing sector represents 23%. “The manufacturing division is one of the core businesses in the state apart from healthcare, transportation and machinery,” said Amirudin.
Amirudin had also added that the state recorded RM800 million investments for the first half of 2018.
“There is a greater interest now. We hope to score higher (investments) than last year, but it depends on how we implement the strategy,” CEO Datuk Hasan Azhari Idris said after the launching ceremony of Selangor International Business Summit (SIBS) 2018 in Kuala Lumpur.
Last year, Selangor attracted RM5.59 billion of direct investments in the manufacturing sector, as well as RM4 billion in the services sector, particularly from the world’s largest furniture retailer, IKEA, with an establishment of a regional supply chain centre in Pulau Indah, worth RM908 million. The services and manufacturing sectors contributed 59.5% and 29.5% to Selangor’s gross domestic product in 2017 respectively.
This year, Selangor has garnered about RM1.8 billion of investments to date, primarily following Invest Selangor’s trade mission to Japan in January.
“We had a good start with the investment tour in Japan. Those investments that we have secured involve companies in the logistics, packaging, machinery and aerospace sectors,” Hasan Azhari said.
Japan remains the state’s largest foreign investor with 13 projects worth RM533 million, followed by Singapore with 18 projects at RM439 million and China with five projects worth RM282 million last year. Foreign investments accounted for 40% of the total investment in Selangor, while 60% of the investments were local.
The second edition of the SIBS this year is projected to attract RM250 million in transaction value, up 22% from last year’s RM204.2 million.
