Selangor Journal
State executive councillor for trade and industry Dato’ Teng Chang Khim speaking at the Selangor International Business Summit 2021, at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on November 18, 2021. — Picture by REMY ARIFIN/SELANGORKINI.

Pandemic not a deterrent to investors flocking into state, says Teng

By Alang Bendahara

SHAH ALAM, Dec 2 — Selangor’s strategies in setting the best policies, its efforts, as well as measures to attract and retain investments into the state have been fruitful, said state executive councillor for trade and investment Dato’ Teng Chang Khim.

He said this has resulted in Selangor’s economy proving to be resilient in the face of the challenges posed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This hard work will definitely pay off in the years to come, provided it is continued no matter what we will face in the future,” Teng said.

He made the remarks during his winding-up address of the debate on the 2022 Selangor Budget, at the Selangor State Legislative Assembly sitting here today.

“In 2020 during a pandemic situation, Selangor once again maintains its position ahead of all other states when it came to the investment in manufacturing and services investments, with a total of RM38.7 billion. This indicates Selangor’s strength.

“It has also made remarkable economic strides in the past years, with the gross domestic product contribution slowly increasing every year.

“I refer to the last five-year figures as an example, when Selangor stood at 22.7 per cent in 2016, 23 per cent in 2017, 23.7 per cent in 2018, 24.2 per cent in 2019, and 24.3 per cent in 2020.

“The foreign direct investment (FDI) in Selangor’s manufacturing sector made history with the highest amount in 25 years at RM18.9 billion in 2018, with the previous highest amount achieved stood at RM12 billion. After that, Selangor maintained its FDI at RM17 billion in 2019 and RM18.4 billion in 2020,” Teng said.

However, he cautioned the state government anticipates the number of investments coming into Selangor will shrink this year, given that the closure of borders around the world will have a negative impact.

Nonetheless from the perspective of international investors, Teng said that apart from the above efforts, there are equally important factors that are taken into account before they decide whether to invest in a country or otherwise.

Citing the World Economic Forum 2019, a country’s competitiveness in attracting investment is measured using 12 pillars, namely institutions, infrastructure, information and communication technology adoption, macroeconomic stability, product market, labour market, financial system, market size, business dynamics, and innovation capability.

“Compared to other Asean countries, Malaysia and Thailand face challenges in three factors of FDI attraction, namely institutions, macroeconomic stability and political stability.

“The political stability or instability of Malaysia and Thailand in the past three years is clearly reflected in the total FDI revenue over the same period. When persistent political instability occurs, then FDI earnings will decline on the assumption that other factors are constant or unchanged,” he said.

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