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UPDATE 1-Malaysia reports 69 pct jump in FDI in 2007

Mon Feb 18, 2008 10:29pm EST

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(Adds trade minister's quote, background)

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Foreign direct investment into Malaysia jumped 69 percent to $13.7 billion last year, Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said on Tuesday.

The figures were dominated by manufacturing investment but included, for the first time, investment in services, an increasingly important part of the developing Asian economy.

The government approved 33.4 billion ringgit ($10.37 billion) in foreign direct investment in manufacturing in 2007, up from 20.2 billion ringgit in 2006, the data showed.

In services, approved FDI totalled 10.8 billion ringgit ($3.35 billion) in 2007, up from 6 billion ringgit.

Rafidah did not give many details on individual investments but said that German solar-cell manufacturer Q-Cells AG (QCEG.DE) had been approved to build a new plant in Malaysia at a cost of more than 1 billion ringgit.

Malaysia, one of Asia's pioneers in attracting foreign manufacturers, has been an international manufacturing hub since the 1970s but now faces stiff competition from Asian neighbours such as India, China and Vietnam.

Rafidah gave a guarded outlook for foreign direct investment.

"Global developments will continue to have an impact on investment inflows into the manufacturing and services sector in Malaysia," she said in a speech before releasing the 2007 data.

"Current high oil prices globally and uncertainties in the U.S. economy will affect global FDI outflows and inflows."

Overall, the government approved total investments worth 125.3 billion ringgit in the manufacturing and services sectors last year, including domestic and foreign projects, compared with 101.5 billion ringgit in 2006.

(Reporting by Liau Y-Sing; editing by Mark Bendeich)



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