THE trade conflict between China and the US has created a “unique opportunity” for Malaysia, said Lim Guan Eng.

The finance minister said the country is “extremely well-positioned” to take advantage of the said opportunity.

“The diversified nature of our economy also ensures that we will be able to weather any shocks that arise,” he said at the Malaysia: A New Dawn investment conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

Lim pointed to “anecdotal surveys” in recent months, which he said indicated an increased interest from Chinese manufacturers to diversify their production bases in Malaysia, to gain entry into the Asean and Western markets.

He said investors from the 36 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development member countries, who had previously set up plants in China, have begun shifting part of their capacity here.

“We are not shy about highlighting our multilingual strengths in both English and Mandarin to navigate between the two largest economic giants in the world.

“This is on top of Malaysia – geographically located in the heart of Asean, and aided by Bahasa Malaysia as our national language – being best placed to tap into the fourth most populous region in the world.”

He said Malaysia has a diversified manufacturing and export ecosystem, which both foreign and local investors can grow and tap into.

“Our education levels, quality of hard and soft infrastructure, as well as fluency in many languages give us a natural edge. At the same time, we remain a significantly cheaper investment destination than most other countries.”

Lim said the government needs three years to resolve fiscal issues caused by the nation’s RM1 trillion debt, and the RM35 billion goods and services tax and income tax refunds.

“We believe that institutional reforms will allow the Malaysian economy (to heal) and (return) investors’ confidence in the system. This will not be easy, but I believe it can be done.

“After all, it is always darkest just before dawn.” – October 9, 2018.