KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 29 — Malaysia has managed to secure investment commitments worth RM347 billion from the official visits made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, alongside trade and investment missions overseas under the current government.
The commitments were clinched during trips to China, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.
“The investment commitments are quite large and very encouraging, both resulting from the visits and efforts of government agencies, including (under) the Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry,” he said when tabling the Supply Bill 2024 for the second reading in the Dewan Negara today.
Meanwhile, Anwar said the government had approved RM132.6 billion worth of investments in the first half of 2023, representing over 60 per cent of the full-year target.
“The main thing is the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 3.3 per cent achieved in the third quarter of this year compared with 2.9 per cent in the second quarter.
“Our economy expanded 3.9 per cent in the first nine months of 2023 in line with the forecast GDP of about four per cent for 2023,” he said.
The Prime Minister also noted that inflationary pressures have subsided.
“When the current administration took over, inflation was at four per cent. In October 2023, the inflation rate has moderated to only 1.8 per cent — the lowest in this region and better than developed countries,” he said.
The unemployment rate has been reduced to 3.4 per cent as of September, almost back to the same level as before the Covid-19 crisis when the rate was 3.3 per cent.
“Although it has been just one year, we have implemented clear and strong policies that were not implemented previously. In fact, there are measures under the second Madani Budget which have already been implemented,” Anwar said.
— Bernama
