KUALA LUMPUR, June 13 ― Malaysia recognises the importance of continuing to attract quality investments and produce the right products, especially products with a higher complexity, to manage risks to trade growth.

Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said it is imperative that Malaysia creates an enabling environment that attracts and supports the right kind of investments, which fosters industrial development to manufacture products with a higher complexity score.

"(This), in turn, facilitates a higher export revenue due to the increased complexity of our exports and economy.

"It is only when we have created a virtuous cycle between those three key elements of our economy that we can claim ourselves to be pro-industry, pro-investment and pro-trade. And it is only then that we can create higher-skilled, higher-paying jobs for our small and medium enterprises and our rakyat,” he said during the unveiling of the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) Digital Trade Platform (MDTP) here today.

Tengku Zafrul said both trade and investment are essential components of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product growth.

He noted the downside risks this year are vast, including geopolitical tensions, food insecurity, potential financial instability stemming from monetary policy tightening, and increasing debt levels.

The minister said that one key long-term solution is to ensure that Malaysia produces more complex and sophisticated products for exports, facilitated by digitisation, automation, robotics and other tech-based enablers, to ensure the sustainability of Malaysia’s future economic growth.

"In a nutshell, a country’s economic and industrial products’ complexity is important as predictors of our nation’s future growth because they reflect the level of our knowledge development and accumulation,” he said. ― Bernama