THE various investment promotion agencies will be housed under the National Committee of Investments (NCI), co-chaired by the ministries of finance (MOF), and international trade and industry, said Ong Kian Ming.

The deputy minister of international trade and industry told The Malaysian Insight that this would ensure uniformity in the principles applied by promotional agencies in managing investments.

In the past, investment agencies such as InvestKL, regional economic corridors and Iskandar Malaysia would liaise with MOF, he said.

“There was no coordination where all these projects could be discussed. Now, we want them to come under the NCI.”

However, he said this does not mean that there will be a consolidation of agencies.

“This is our way of housing, not necessarily consolidating the agencies so consistent principles can be applied to all the investment applications that are coming into the country.”

An announcement on this is expected to be made next month.

On the efforts taken to relax bureaucratic procedures and improve the ease of doing business, Ong said enquiries and requests are pouring in from the business community asking the government to address their concerns.

“I won’t deny that we still receive quite a number of enquiries and email requests to expedite some of their processes that are stuck.”

On that note, he said his ministry will continue to rely on the Special Task Force to Facilitate Business (Pemudah) as a platform to improve business friendliness.

The task force, a collaboration between the private and public sector, has been instrumental in helping Malaysia climb to 15th from the 24th spot, in the World Bank’s rankings on ease of doing business.

Building strong manufacturing base

Malaysia will still maintain a strong manufacturing base and not completely shift focus to the services sector, Ong said.

“The argument here is quite complex. We still want to maintain a strong manufacturing base because this is what drives innovation, trade and technology in Malaysia.”

Manufacturing, which used to account for about 30% of the economy, currently stands at about 25%.

He said it would be good if the sectors’ share of the economy can be maintained or raised. 

As for the developed states on the peninsula’s west coast such as Penang, Selangor, Johor and Negri Sembilan, he said his ministry is focusing on attracting investments in the area of high value-added manufacturing.

This includes sectors such as electrical and electronics, machines and equipment, aerospace, chemical products and medical devices.

Meanwhile, as for the less developed states in the east coast, as well as Sabah and Sarawak, the focus will be on bringing in investments that will rely on access to ports and requires land to build large factories and plants.

On the services sector, which accounts for more than 50% of the economy, Ong said MITI is looking to attract higher value added services by positioning Malaysia as a regional hub for multinational companies.

He said many multinational companies have chosen Singapore as their landing spot but over time some have even made the move to Malaysia after getting used to the region.

“Many of them have relocate themselves to Malaysia or locate to Malaysia and use Malaysia as a services hub, whether it is for accounting services, back office processing and now increasingly global business services,” he said, adding that Malaysia has become an Asian hub for such companies. – August 9, 2019.