MDEC REMAINS OPTIMISTIC ON FDIS
Plan to expand focus to Europe and Japan, says CEO
MA LAYS IA Digital Economy Corp (MDEC) is optimistic on new foreign direct investments (FDIs) into the country this year, but remains cautious on the economic development in the United States.
Chief executive officer Datuk Yasmin Mahmood said while the US was still deemed as a potential strong FDI contributor for the information technology (IT) sector in Malaysia, the company was expanding its focus to Europe, including the United Kingdom, and Japan.
“Although there is general softness in the IT sector that very much impacted by what is happening in global economy, we are looking at expanding our focus.
“We are looking at companies in Europe and Japan,” she said at MDEC’s Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Malaysia performance briefing, here, yesterday.
Yasmin said as this year was dubbed the “Year of the Internet Economy”, MDEC would continue to drive a sustainable digital economy built upon a vibrant domestic IT industry.
Last year, MDEC recorded new investments totalling RM16.27 billion, up from RM4.57 billion in 2015.
Yasmin said of the amount, RM6.43 billion was from new investors.
She said the RM9.84 billion from existing investors was also a promising figure amid the challenging economic landscape.
Yasmin said export sales from MSC Malaysia firms appreciated by 18 per cent to RM19.1 billion from RM16.2 billion in 2015, with the Creative Content and Technology cluster recording the highest growth with RM1.17 billion.
She said despite uncertain economic conditions, last year witnessed a 10-fold increase in investments for niche focus areas, including e-commerce, Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics and Security, which contributed RM3.7 billion to total export sales last year. It was an increase of 38 per cent from 2015.