Invest Selangor cautiously optimistic for next year

State investment arm CEO says Covid has brought new challenges, especially to supply chains of many industries

SHAH ALAM: Invest Selangor Bhd, the investment arm of the state government, remains cautiously optimistic on Selangor’s economic outlook for 2022 as Covid-19 has brought many new challenges, particularly to the supply chains of many industries.

CEO Datuk Hasan Azhari Idris said the limited supply of raw materials, parts and components – especially in the electrical and electronics industries – has stalled the delivery of new orders in many electronic items globally.

“However, we remain positive but cautious in projecting the state’s economic growth for 2022,” he told Bernama yesterday.

Hasan Azhari said Selangor is the biggest contributor to Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP), with an average of 24% a year, and therefore the state’s economic growth has a direct impact on the nation’s overall economic growth.

Last year, the state recorded slower economic growth of 2.09% amid the overall national GDP contraction of 5.6% due to the pandemic and the movement control orders.

Hasan Azhari said despite the pandemic that started in early 2020, Selangor managed to secure top spot as Malaysia’s best investment destination for the manufacturing sector, with a total of RM18.4 billion worth of investments last year.

“For 2021, our initial target for approved investments in the manufacturing sector is RM12 billion. However, we are re-evaluating this as the unpredictability of the pandemic, the spread of the new variants and prolonged restrictions of economic and travel activities affected a lot of our plans.

“Our hope is that things will ease up in 2022, and that we will be able to plan our engagement and promotional activities better,” said Hasan Azhari.

Recently, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said according to the Malaysian Investment Development Authority, Selangor recorded a higher investment value of RM4.64 billion from January to June 2021 (H1’21), compared with RM3.39 billion in H1’20, while the number of manufacturing projects approved was 122, similar to last year. – Bernama