Penang received RM5.4bil last year, says state investment body

GEORGE TOWN: Penang’s drop in investment figures was mainly caused by two principal factors, one of which being the global slowdown in the electronics industry, says investPenang director Datuk Lee Kah Choon.

“The other is that Mida’s investment figures for 2012 did not include the RM2.9bil recorded by the Northern Corridor Investment Authority (NCIA),” he pointed out.

He said whilst there was a drop in investments, Penang’s investment figure was actually RM5.4bil if NCIA’s contribution of RM2.9bil in 2012 had been factored in.

“However, investPenang continues to be optimistic that the state will remain on top of the list of favoured investment locations following the success of getting branded names like Bose to set up their first Asian plant in Penang last year.”

Lee said the top two investments in Malaysia last year were in chemicals (oil and gas) and transport equipment (automotive), making up 37.4% of the total investments in Malaysia.

“Penang’s strength is not in this area,” he said. “That explains why Penang has dropped significantly in terms of ranking in 2012.”

Lee said that the state Government concurred with Mida to actively look into developing more of the domestic investments.

“Investment in services, which take up half of Penang’s economy such as logistics, tourism and heritage, has not been captured by the investment numbers,” he said.

He also said investPenang’s performance over the past five years beginning 2008 amounted to RM36.1bil as compared to RM18.7bil for the previous five years.