Malaysia’s FDI plunge: Who’s taking it seriously?

“Malaysia’s precipitous drop in inward foreign direct investments and an increase in outward foreign direct investments (FDI) mark a complete lack of confidence in Malaysia’s economy.

(Pic by duchessa / sxc.hu)

1. For the first time ever in history, Malaysia attracted less investment than the Philippines.

2. Compared to the previous year 2008, Malaysia suffered by far the biggest decline of FDI in Southeast Asia.

3. Malaysia was the only country in Southeast Asia to have registered a net negative Foreign Direct Investment Flow.

4 For the first time ever, cumulative Outward FDI Stock exceeded cumulative FDI Inward Stock.

5. Barring a ‘blip’ in 2001 when we attracted only US$0.55 billion in FDI, this is the first time we’ve attracted less than US$2 billion in FDI over the past 20 years.”

DAP national publicity secretary and Petaling Jaya Utara Member of Parliament Tony Pua, in a 25 July 2010 press release. Pua was responding to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad)’s World Investment Report 2010. The Unctad report stated that FDI in Malaysia fell 81% from US$7.3 billion in 2008 to US$1.4 billion in 2009.

Pua said the drastic dip could not be brushed off as a one-off caused by the global financial crisis, but was part of a consistent decline in Malaysia’s competitiveness in recent years. The only other Southeast Asian countries with lower FDI than Malaysia in 2009 were Cambodia, Myanmar, Brunei, Laos and Timor-Leste. (Source: Foreign Direct Investments: What Happened to Malaysia?, Pua’s media statement, 25 July 2010)

“It doesn’t mean that the net investment flow is lower, is necessarily bad.”

“Look at the quality of the investments and look at the facts in terms of the timing of investments.

“It could be some delays. It could be a big, lumpy Malaysian investment overseas that distorts the net number.”

CIMB group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Nazir Razak, telling people not to jump to conclusions over the 81% plunge in FDI. Nazir, who is Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s younger brother, said “huge” investments by CIMB and Maybank into Indonesia were possible factors that contributed to the lower net FDI figures. (Source: Nazir cautions against bashing low FDI figures, The Malaysian Insider, 26 July 2010)

“The second quarter will be good and the momentum seems to be good.

“We are expecting a single high digit growth for the second quarter.”

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, expressing confidence that Malaysia was on target to achieve 6% gross domestic product (GDP) growth and high-income status by 2020. Nor Mohamed said there were strong indications of improvement in trade, import and export, and this would lead the country to achieve its target. (Source: Malaysia to register high single-digit growth in Q2: Nor Mohamed, mysinchew.com, 3 Aug 2010)

“[The government] has been totally misled by the double-digit growth in the first quarter of 2010. The government attributes this dramatic turnaround to its own policies, but the facts show the rebound was largely attributed to an export surge in the first quarter – a regional trend.

“The double-digit growth was also attributable to the low base value a year ago which will wear off in subsequent quarters.”

Malaysian Institute of Economic Research distinguished fellow, Emeritus Professor Datuk DrMohamed Ariff, in an interview with The Nut Graph in June 2010. Ariff said there were indications that the government was in denial about the growth rates Malaysia could achieve in its 10th Malaysia Plan.

Ariff said the government had projected 6% GDP growth per annum on the assumption that private investment would grow at 12.8%. However, he said that from 2006 to 2009, the private investment growth rate was only 2%. (Source: Malaysia’s economic outlook: Will we make it?,The Nut Graph, 28 June 2010)

“If we were to bring those kinds of investments in, we will require more cheap foreign labour. We don’t want that kind of investments anymore.”

International Trade and Industry (Miti) Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, explaining that low-value-add and labour-intensive investments were headed where labour cost was cheaper because Malaysia no longer provided incentives for such investments.

He stressed that the ministry was not disputing the FDI data reported by Unctad, declaring the statistics “important” and “correct”. He said, however, that the figures alone did not constitute the whole picture.

Miti also said the sharp fall in FDI in 2009 was due to foreign companies not making additional investments in Malaysia. At the same time, these companies had repatriated profits made in Malaysia to their parent companies that were in the midst of a global recession. (Source: Mustapa: Miti taking proactive measures to attract FDIs, The Star, 29 July 2010)

courtesy of Nut Graph