Malaysia to dish out more incentives for foreign investment

Kuala Lumpur

MALAYSIA will increase incentives for companies to relocate operations to the country as it seeks more foreign investments to bolster growth. Approved direct investments rose to a record 235.9 billion ringgit (S$89 billion) last year from 219.4 billion ringgit in 2013, International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed said in Kuala Lumpur Thursday. Domestic investments accounted for about 73 per cent of the total, he said.

Prime Minister Najib Razak is dismantling decades of subsidies and increasing his focus on luring foreign investment, boosting education standards and adding high-quality jobs to propel the economy into developed status by the end of this decade. The government is depending on the private sector to drive capital spending as it cuts operating expenditure to narrow a budget deficit.