Malaysia’s foreign direct investment (FDI) recorded 74.6 billion ringgit (16.15 billion U.S. dollars), while its direct investment abroad (DIA) registered 58.6 billion ringgit (12.9 billion dollars) in 2022, official data showed on Friday.
At the end of 2022, the country’s FDI position and DIA position increased to 879.1 billion ringgit and 607.5 billion ringgit, respectively.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that the encouraging FDI and DIA performance has shown a favorable economic situation in the country, which attracted foreign companies to continue their investments and encouraged local companies to expand and diversify their business activities abroad.
The manufacturing sector, which expanded by 17.1 billion ringgit to record net inflows of 49.5 billion ringgit, contributed to the largest flows in FDI.
The Americas region surpassed Asia as the highest region of FDI for 2022 with net inflows of 42.6 billion ringgit, mainly from the United States, which amounted to 37.8 billion ringgit. Meanwhile, Asia has been the predominant source for FDI position with a value of 449 billion ringgit.
The DIA flows rose by 39.3 billion ringgit to record 58.6 billion ringgit, and the growth was attributed to higher outflows in equity and profit retained abroad.
Services remained as a primary sector for DIA, contributing 72.2 percent of the total investment especially in financial activities.
Asia overtook Europe as the leading region of DIA flows in 2022 with a value of 23.5 billion ringgit notably to Indonesia and Singapore.
Overall, Singapore, Indonesia and the Netherlands were the top three destinations for investors. (1 ringgit equals 0.22 U.S. dollars)