In 2004, Selangor led other states in the country in terms of number of projects and value of investments. Between January and December 2004, a total of 336 manufacturing projects with an investment value of RM6 billion were approved in Selangor.

The state makes up 31 per cent of the total number of projects and 21 per cent of the total investments approved by the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA). Of the RM6 billion invested, RM4.68 billion are domestic investments while the remaining RM1.4 bilion are from foreign investors.

The electrical and electronics goods industry recorded the highest investment value of RM1.23 billion from 40 projects. However, the metal goods industry recorded the highest number of projects at 47, valued at RM281 million.

Investment Performance 2005

Selangor approved 116 manufacturing projects from January to May 2005, with proposed capital investment of RM1.572 billion, of which RM1.248 billion are domestic investments while foreign investments make up RM324 million.

The value of approved manufacturing projects puts Selangor among the country's top three contributing state, in investment rankings, aside from Johor and Pahang.

The top five foreign investors in Selangor for the first five months of this year are Japan with investments valued at RM69.2 million, Singapore RM55.9 million, Luxembourg RM24.1 million and Sweeden RM20.4 million. Meanwhile, Taiwan and Hong Kong have also shown keen interests in Selangor with investments of RM19.2 million and RM15.3 million respectively.

These investments in the first five months alone created about 11,600 employment opportunities.

Meanwhile, investment trends in Selangor from year 2000 to 2004 recorded annual average figures of more than RM5 billion, except in year 2002. Job opportunities as a result of these invetments in the past four years were also very encouraging, with an average of 24,809 jobs created aech year.

Future Plans

Selangor attracted investments of RM1.6 billion in the first quarter of year 2005, exceeding its projected figures of RM1.1 billion. The Selangor State Investment Centre (SSIC Berhad) is confident of achieving its target of RM5 billion in investments by year end, despite only posting RM1.64 billion in the second quarter. SSIC is the state's investment promotion arm.

Selangor is also taking steps to increase its services sector to 40 per cent as the focus is on this sector due to its potential high returns. Currently, it stand at 36 per cent. Through SSIC, Selangor has plans to attract more foreign investors to set up business here.

The food processing, automotive, electric and electronics, modern agriculture and bio-technology industries and the services sector are among its target investments.

To this end, SSIC will be organising trade missions to several countries, including Singapore, and Korea to attract more investments into the state.

-End-