Anwar, who is also finance minister, said approved investments for Q1 2023 totalled RM71.4 billion, a 60% increase from the RM44.7 billion recorded in Q1 2022.
“I feel the political stability has boosted investor confidence and spurred investments to flow in stronger than previously.
“However, what is important is not just announcements (of investments) and memoranda of understanding but also the implementation,” he said during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
This was in reply to supplementary questions from opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin (PN-Larut) and Lim Guan Eng (PH-Bagan) on investor confidence and Malaysia’s key economic policies.
Anwar cited Amazon Web Services’ plan to invest RM25.5 billion as well as investments from Tesla in electric vehicles, China-based Rongsheng Petrochemical Co Ltd in petrochemicals and Geely/Proton (smart automotive city in Tanjung Malim) for starters.
He said if the economic policies were confusing, Malaysia’s economic growth would not have outpaced those of Indonesia, Vietnam and China.
Malaysia’s economy grew by 5.6% in Q1 2023, better than the performance of countries in the region such as Indonesia (5.0%), China (4.5%) and Vietnam (3.3%).
The growth was also stronger than Bank Negara Malaysia’s forecast of between 4% and 5% for 2023, Anwar noted.
“If our policies are confusing, we would not have seen investments coming, and these are serious investments. Following my visit to China, Geely decided to accelerate the Automotive Hi-Tech Valley (AHTV) project in Proton City, Tanjung Malim,” he said.
In addition, Anwar said, the confidence in the government’s economic management is proven by credit rating agencies Fitch Rating’s and Moody’s Investors Service’s affirmation of Malaysia’s sovereign credit ratings in recent months.
On 1MDB, Anwar said work on getting the US$1.8 billion settlement by the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) will continue.
“As everyone knows, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi (Sheikh Khaled Mohamed Zayed Al Nahyan) is in Malaysia now to continue the discussion, as well as to discuss on investments,” he said.
The 1MDB settlement is part of the government’s effort to strengthen governance to ensure positive progress.