KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -Approved investments in Malaysia rose by 3.7% in the first quarter from a year earlier to 89.8 billion ringgit ($21.2 billion), the Malaysian Investment Development Authority said on Wednesday.
Foreign investments were 60.4 billion ringgit, or two-thirds of the total, and domestic investments accounted for 29.4 billion ringgit, the authority said in a statement.
“The investment environment in 2025 is expected to remain challenging due to continued geopolitical and macroeconomic headwinds stemming from the U.S.-China trade war,” Trade Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said in the statement.
Tengku Zafrul said while protectionist policies and supply-chain frictions would affect corporate decision-making, he expected Malaysia to attract more investment given the broader Asian economy was increasing its share of global GDP.
The top three sources of foreign investment in the quarter were Singapore with 28.3 billion ringgit, the United States at 9.9 billion ringgit and China at 7.9 billion ringgit.
The services sector attracted 57.8 billion ringgit on the approved investment, the authority said.
($1 = 4.2370 ringgit)
(Reporting by Danial Azhar; Editing by John Mair)
