Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know

Out-Law News 1 min. read

Malaysian firms stepping up infrastructure investment in Africa


Collaboration between Malaysian and African companies will help fuel the growth of the African economy and open new markets to Malaysian firms, according to the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA).

Foreign direct investment (FDI) from Malaysia to Africa increased 4% to $57 billion in 2013 driven by infrastructure investments, especially in the Eastern and Southern Africa sub-regions, MIDA’s second deputy chief executive officer N S Rajendran told the National News Agency of Malaysia (Bernama).

FDI inflows into Southern Africa almost doubled to $13bn over the same period, while investment in Eastern Africa grew 15% to $6.2bn, Rajendran said. “This shows that Africa is continuing to sustain its economic and population growth and will definitely attract market-seeking FDI into consumer-oriented industries,” he said.

Rajendran, who was interviewed on the sidelines of Malaysia’s Third Country Training Programme investment promotion (TCTP) for African Countries on 23 September in Kuala Lumpur, said electronics, consumer products and machinery equipment for agriculture “are some of the potential areas that we can tap into”.

Bernama said the TCTP was organised by MIDA in partnership with Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japan International Cooperation Agency to help African countries better understand Malaysia's experience in improving its policies and strategies for industrial development and investment promotion.

According to Bernama, officials from the investment promotion agencies of Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Cote D'Ivoire were also at the TCTP.

A report published this year (80-page / 2.4MB PDF) by consultancy Ernst & Young (EY) said the number of FDI projects in Africa grew 27% from 2010 to 2011 and the trend is set to continue.

We are processing your request. \n Thank you for your patience. An error occurred. This could be due to inactivity on the page - please try again.