KLANG, 18 September: The strategic location of the Klang Valley has made Selangor a major contributor to the country’s economy, said Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.
According to him, the state is in a strategic position which is often the major destination of investors from within the country and abroad to invest in Selangor.
Abdul Khalid said that even though Malaysia is experiencing slow economic growth this year, Selangor will continue to devise new strategies to maintain the excellent performance achieved in the past year.
“We are not just lucky, but the strategic location of Selangor has resulted in many investors coming to this state.
“As an effort to boost economic development in Selangor and Malaysia, investment in the state should be expanded with a variety of investment activities and with various sectors involved so that it can be improved even more,” he said.
Abdul Khalid said this in a response to the statement by the Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, who said that Malaysia experienced slow economic growth for the second quarter of this year.
This has resulted in BNM having to review the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the second quarter of this year by only targeting 45 compared to 6% at the beginning of the first quarter of this year.
Earlier, Abdul Khalid officiated the new office building of YKGI Holdings Berhad, as well as the launch of the latest product of the company at the Sungai Puloh Industrial Area in Kapar, Klang, near here on 13 September.
Also present was the Executive Councillor in charge of Investment, Industry, New Village Development and the Whitening of Illegal Factories, Ean Yong Hian Wah, the YKGI Group Managing Director, Datuk Soh Thian Lai, and the Advisor of YKGI, Datuk Wahab Hamid.
Meanwhile, Abdul Khalid in his speech said that throughout the past five years, Selangor has managed to bring in 1,429 manufacturing projects from within and outside the country with a total capital investment of up to RM49.7 billion.
Last year, Selangor became the major contributor of investment in Malaysia by receiving RM11.7 billion from the total investment approved through the manufacturing sector.
Abdul Khalid said that the iron and steel project in this country has also received a total capital investment up to RM2.1 billion throughout the past five years.
“A total of RM1.5 billion comes from domestic projects and the rest are projects of foreign investors totalling to RM9.5 billion. The number of jobs created is 3,237 places,” he added.
