As per Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), FDI in Malaysia’s clothing and textile sector is increasing more this year on the back of a robust performance in 2017. From January to June 2018, the total investments in the sector reached MYR244.8 million ($58.73 million) of which FDI accounted for MYR112 million ($26.87million). This compares with MYR428.8 million ($102 milliion) of investments approved across 12 projects for the garment and textile sector last year where MYR322.3 million ($77.35 million) – 75.2 per cent – came from foreign investors.

All these projects put together generated 1,850 jobs comprising skilled positions for engineers, quality controllers, and highly skilled technicians. MIDA expects investments to continue to rise in 2018 based on the performance in the first half of the year. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has also sounded positive about a rise in FDI in general during 2018.