KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 (Bernama) — The services sector will contribute 60 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2020, making it a major contributor to Malaysia’s economy, said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed. Currently, the services sector accounts for 55 per cent of the country’s GDP. “We have less than six years to achieve this. We need to do something radical to invigorate the services sector. It has done well, growing faster than other sectors but that is not enough,” he told reporters after Malaysia Services Development Council 1/2014 meeting here Thursday. Also present at the meeting were Pemandu (Performance Management & Delivery Unit) Chief Executive Officer Datuk Seri Idris Jala and representatives from the various ministries, agencies and services industries association. Mustapa said the council was briefed, among others, on the progress of the services sector liberalisation initiative at the Asean level as well...

Q1 2014 Approved Investments in the Manufacturing Sector Surpass Q1 2013 Record Eighty Five Per Cent of Jobs Created Are High Skilled Employment Malaysia successfully attracted a higher level of approved investments in the manufacturing sector in the first quarter (Q1) 2014 compared with the corresponding period of 2013. The country recorded RM17.1 billion of investments, an increase of 52.7% as compared with RM11.2 billion in the same period of 2013, reflecting its competitiveness as a location of choice for high value added manufacturing activities in the region. The manufacturing projects approved during the period are expected to generate about 18,677 job opportunities with major proportion of employment being in highly skilled occupations. It is encouraging to...

In response to various comments in the local media on 7 May 2014, about the steel industry, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) wishes to clarify and clear any misconception that the reports may have generated. In 2012, MITI commissioned the Boston Consulting Group to undertake a study of the industry in order to enable the Government to take a holistic approach to overcoming the challenges faced by the industry. The Government has implemented proposals derived from the study. The proposals include measures to further enhance the competitiveness of the upstream and downstream industry, support access to key inputs for the industry, enhance the capabilities of the steel industry, improve standards & importation processes and enhance trade remedies. A fundamental proposal was for the establishment of a Malaysian Steel...

MALAYSIA EXTERNAL TRADE STATISTICS TRADE PERFORMANCE FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH 2014 AND THE PERIOD OF JANUARY-MARCH 2014 # Export Growth Sustained

Exports in March 2014 expanded by 8.4% year-on-year to RM65.03 billion andimports increased by 0.5% to RM55.43 billion from March 2013. Trade surplus increased by 96.8% to RM9.59 billion in March 2014. Malaysia’s total trade in March 2014 rose by 4.6% from a year ago to RM120.46 billion. Increases in trade were recorded with Singapore, which rose RM2.21 billion, Taiwan (↑RM1.64 billion), Australia (↑RM1.06 billion), the Netherlands (↑RM854.7 million), Hong Kong (↑RM391.6 million) and New Zealand (↑RM366.3 million). E&E Drives Exports Exports of manufactured goods was RM43.86 billion or 67.4% of total exports in March 2014, an increase of 8.5% or RM3.44 billion from March 2013. The increase in exports was contributed mainly by higher exports of electrical and electronic (E&E) products especially electronic integrated...

MEDIA RELEASE 20TH APEC MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR TRADE MEETING 17 – 18 MAY 2014

MINISTRY OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND INDUSTRY, MALAYSIA MEDIA STATEMENT WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM (WEF) EAST ASIA 2014 AND TRADE & INVESTMENT MISSION TO MANILA, THE PHILIPPINES, 21 – 23 MAY 2014

YB Dato? Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister of International Trade and Industry will participate in the World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia in Manila and lead a Trade and Investment Mission to the Philippines from 21st to 23rd of May 2014. The WEF is an independent international organization based in Switzerland that is committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, politician, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas and issues. The WEF organises the highly successful WEF Annual Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January every year. The WEF East Asia Forum is a regional extension of the WEF Annual Forum. The first WEF East Asia was held 23 years ago. Manila is hosting this event for the first time. The events in World Economic...

26 June 2014, Kuala Lumpur - YB Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI) led a dialogue session with 16 companies in Perlis, organised by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), today.  YB Minister was accompanied by YBhg. Dato’ Azman Mahmud, Chief Executive Officer of MIDA, and other officials from MITI and MIDA. According to Dato’ Sri Mustapa, “There are many opportunities in Perlis that investors should be made to be aware of. All that we need to do is to position Perlis as a state of opportunity.  The State is mainly driven by the agriculture sector.  Notwithstanding this, it is heartening to note that approved investments in the manufacturing sector for 2013 in Perlis have increased substantially by nine times the figures achieved in the year of 2011, a testimony that this state is becoming an increasingly competitive destination for investments.” “We are actively working with all stakeholders including the...

KUALA LUMPUR: THE World Bank has ranked Malaysia 18th out of 189 economies for ease of doing business, up two notches from last year, and ahead of countries such as Taiwan (19th), Switzerland (20th) and Japan (29th). The World Bank’s Doing Business 2015 Report, released yesterday, showed the top three performers were Singapore, New Zealand and Hong Kong. Bernama reports that Malaysia ranked first among emerging east Asian economies. A new method was used for the ranking because of limitations in the previous mechanism, such as loss of information, inability to track progress and inequality in business friendliness measured in larger countries. The ranking is now based on the distance to frontier (DTF) score — score of country that is ranked No. 1 — rather than the percentile rank. Malaysia’s score edged up to 78.83 points from last year’s 76.84 points. The report looked at 10 areas: starting a business; dealing with construction permits; getting electricity;...

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 (Bernama) — Total approved investments in the electrical and electronics (E&E) sector is expected to reach RM10 billion this year on the back of the resilient global economic outlook.

 

International Trade and Industry Minister, Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said from January-July this year, approved investments in the E&E sector reached RM8.4 billion with 57 approved projects, surpassing the 2014 target of RM5.1 billion.

“Investments are encouraging this year compared with last year…this is a good sign that shows that our economy is expanding.

“The economic growth forecast of between 5.5 per cent and 6.0 per cent this year is very relevant given our exports and investments growth so far,” he said in a media briefing on the E&E sector here today.

Some of the high-impact projects approved include a diversification project in wafer fabrication involving an investment of RM3.2 billion and an expansion project estimated at RM1.5 billion for a high-end...

BEIJING, Nov 9 (Bernama) — Malaysia has called for the reconvening of the World Trade Organisation’s Information Technology Agreement (ITA) expansion negotiations and urged for swift conclusion. Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, reiterated Malaysia’s commitment in concluding the ITA expansion negotiations, at the APEC ministerial meeting here. “We hope to see the implementation of the ITA2 agreement in the shortest timeframe possible as it will bring benefits to our economy and promote trade growth,” he said in a statement here today. The business community has a lot to gain from this initiative, he said. It would also support the government’s efforts at creating jobs, he said. Malaysia’s total trade in information communication technology (ICT) and electrical & electronic products in 2013 amounted to US$107 billion while exports totalled US$62 billion and imports amounted to US$45 billion. The ITA expansion negotiations...