ALOR SETAR, July 18 — The Kedah State Assembly (DUN) was told today that the state has received investments totalling RM8.55 billion as of the first quarter of this year.

Kedah Industry and Investment Committee chairman Datuk Ku Abd Rahman Ku Ismail said this puts Kedah in pole position compared to other states.

"Penang recorded RM6.33 billion, followed by Sabah’s RM3 billion. We hope this momentum will continue and I believe we will also achieve another encouraging amount of investments this year, but not as much as in 2021, as 2021 was, in the words of many, ‘special’," he said.

He said this in response to an additional question from Datuk Norsabrina Mohd Noor (BN-Bandar Baharu) who wanted to know how much investment was recorded by the state thus far for 2022.

Ku Abd Rahman said most of the investments for the first quarter involved electrical and electronics following the semiconductor chips shortage which resulted in companies increasing production.

He also said 12,733 job opportunities were created last year in the manufacturing industry with investments amounting to RM66.22 billion.

"Domestic investments were only RM386 million while foreign investments amounted to RM65.833 billion; the total investments were RM66.22 billion. This is the highest we have ever achieved in history," he said. — Bernama