Jomo: Government recognises FDI which contributes to country’s progress

KUALA LUMPUR: The Pakatan Harapan government recognises the importance of foreign direct investments (FDIs) and technology transfers from abroad, said economist Prof Jomo Kwame Sundaram.

He said Malaysia appreciated investments that contributed to the country’s progress, such as 5G telecommunications, artificial intelligence applications, financial technologies, renewable energy, new medicines and electric vehicles.

“The new government clearly favours productive industrial investments, especially with Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s commitment to accelerate Malaysian technological progress,” he said in a letter to the Financial Times.

Jomo, who is also a member of the Council of Eminent Persons, said after the country’s independence in 1957, the Malaysian government had always invited FDIs.

“Caricaturing the country’s political debate over investments from China risks misleading all concerned. For example, the RM67 billion (US$17 billion) East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project is not economically viable and the cost overruns for such large projects are the international norm,” he said.

Jomo said the ECRL project was not an investment from China, but a huge loan from China’s export-import bank for 85 per cent of projected costs on preferential terms, adding that there has been considerable public opposition to such projects and associated debt liabilities. — Bernama