PETALING JAYA: Malaysian businesses recorded lower cross-border investments in 2025 compared to 2024 on a net basis, with the outflows mainly in equity and investment fund shares.
According to the Statistics Department’s Direct Investment Abroad (DIA) data, equity and investment fund shares were the main component of outflows in 2025, totalling RM29bil, an increase of RM800mil from 2024 but this was mitigated by a net inflow of RM16.6bil in debt instruments to bring the total net outflow to RM12.4bil in 2025.
In contrast, Malaysian businesses saw a net outflow of RM35.5bil in 2024 when a net outflow of RM7.3bil was recorded for debt instruments.
Earnings wise, Malaysian businesses with overseas operations recorded RM39.9bil in 2025 compared with RM45.4bil in 2024.
“Meanwhile, the overall DIA position stood at RM589.3bil as at the end of 2025, lower than RM622.1bil recorded a year earlier,” it said.
The services sector continued to be the main destination of net investment outflows, with RM15.6bil primarily contributed by financial and insurance as well as takaful activities.
“The outflows were also contributed by construction and mining and quarrying sectors with RM3bil and RM2bil, respectively,” it said.
The returns were highest from the services sector, at RM25.3bil, followed by the mining and quarrying sector at RM7.8bil and the agriculture sector at RM2.9bil.
The services sector also accounted for the largest share of Malaysia’s cumulative DIA position, with a total value of RM440.2bil as at the end of 2025 (2024: RM463.7bil), largely fuelled by investments in financial and insurance and takaful activities.
The mining and quarrying and agriculture sectors followed with RM68.9bil and RM44bil, respectively.
In terms of region, Africa emerged as the largest destination for Malaysia’s DIA flows in 2025, recording RM7bil, notably to Mauritius and Angola.
As at the end of 2025, the Asian region remained Malaysia’s preferred investment destination, with DIA position of RM339bil.
